Christian Giving Is Not Kalokalo – Abuja Cleric

Giving in the Christian context should not be seen as transactional or kalokalo Abuja cleric, Pastor Sam Dangana has said.

Speaking on the topic, Biblical Giving at the Hospital Chapel, National Hospital Abuja, Dangana said that giving is an act of worship that should arise from the surrender of the heart unto God.

The cleric who disabused many conventional attitudes on Christian giving said that giving is not only limited to money, but also in the form of prayers, visitation and such efforts to help others.

In that respect, the cleric said that no one can say that there is nothing he can give.

Citing various biblical references including Hebrews 13:16, Proverbs 11:24-25 (GNT), 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, Elder Dangana said that giving as was seen with the Macedonian Church should not be from the abundance of what one has but out of what one has in hand even in lack.

While noting that God who he quoted as owning the cattle on a thousand hills does not need the money that men can offer, Dangana said that God draws worship from the giving of the Christian.

He made reference to the woman famed for giving her last mite during the time of Jesus, observing that while the “rest of the brethren were looking at (flaunting) what they gave, the Lord was looking at the heart of the woman who gave her last mite.”

He said that Jesus saw it as an act of worship, in that the woman surrendered her last mite which he said reflected the surrender of a life to God in worship.

The cleric observed that “sometimes we look at giving as if we are doing someone a favour, rather it is to ourself we do the favour,” as he observed that Christian giving in its true sense like every act of worship bounces back in blessing to the giver.

Reading from Romans 12:8, he encouraged his audience to give with simplicity adding that there should be no airs about a Christian giving what God has blessed him with saying that it is something that should be done as unto the Lord.

GWG.ng reports that the cleric stressed the need of giving to one another noting that while some are quick to run out to give N10,000 pledges as demanded by some pastors, but they close their eyes to the little need from a fellow Christian sitting him in church.

According to him giving to a fellow Christian in need is a duty to be done because it is done out of what God has provided emphasising that no one can carry his treasure out of the earth.

The preacher who returned to Nigeria in the last week from a preaching engagement in a Western country said that he was moved to ask his hosts why Nigerian leaders resort to hiding ill-gotten resources from Nigeria in their country.

Demonstrating that no one can carry resources out of the earth at the point of death, he said that Nigeria was still collecting credit alerts from a foreign country where a former military ruler stashed his loot.

Reading from 2 Corinthians 9:6 the cleric affirmed that giving should also be proportional according to how one has been blessed.

In a note of caution, Pastor Dangana, however, drew his congregation not to regularly project themselves on the receiving side, encouraging them to see themselves on the giving side saying that the hand of the giver is always on top of that of the receiver.

Tying into the quarterly theme of the church on the Characteristics of Hope, Pastor Dangana said that giving is reflective of hope in the sense of the assurance of God steading the future for the giver.

The cleric, continuing, urged his audience not to see giving as only to pastors and elders, but also should be spread to other Christian leaders including bible study and home cell leaders and others engaged in spiritual service and even more, to parents.

GWG.ng reports the preacher upbraided Christians living in ostentation in the city while their parents abide in distress in the villages.

As he concluded, he charged that giving can only flow from a heart touched by God noting that the act of giving started from God who gave His ONLY son. He said there were others who emulated him naming Abraham who put his son, the only son whom he loved on the altar of sacrifice and also the woman who Jesus quoted as giving up her only mite.

He also gave a sober warning to his audience saying, “the same way that God is happy with those who give, the same way He is not happy with those who do not give as expected of them.”

In that direction he cited the case of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira warning that giving should not be seen as a competition.

Observing that “while people were looking at their (Mrs and Mrs Ananias’a) hands, God was looking at their hearts. It is not a competition.

“And some of us give as if it is a transaction and some of us have turned giving into kalokalo,” the Abuja cleric said as he also cautioned his congregation not to think that the church will suffer if they refuse to give. In that respect, he cited the case of some missionaries who he said are able to send their children to study abroad as he observed that God’s hand of grace unto His own would abide irrespective of the unwillingness of those endowed with God’s resources to give generously.

GWG.ng reports that the church service was interlaced with worship, praise and bible study.

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