The Hundredfold Return

The Hundredfold Return

Matthew 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

Do you really get hundred fold return on your giving for Jesus' name's sake? Does God really multiply your seed sown by one hundred?

Does Jesus lie? Of course you do.

Okay, so if I give a hundred dollars, times one hundred, that's ten thousand dollars.

Well, no, probably not.

What, you say? Well, that's because God does not measure in dollars.

Luke 21:1 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.
:2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.
:3 And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:
:4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

Okay, as near as I can tell, a mite was 1/128 of a days wages for common labor. Assuming 100 dollars as a current day's wage, two mites would equal about a buck sixty.

The rich men were throwing in, what, a couple thou apiece? If we guess thirty rich men, that would be $60,000. This widow comes along, throws in a handful of quarters, and God says she gave far more? 1.60 X 100 = 160. 60,000 X 100 = 6,000,000. Six Million! Yet, if you do the math, Jesus said they were going to get a return of less than $160. That kind of hundredfold return will reduce you to poverty.

God doesn't measure your giving in dollars, nor does he calculate the hundredfold return in dollars. Yes, you get a hundredfold, but you get a hundredfold of what God values your gift to be worth.

That might just be zero.

1 Corinthians 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Unless you are motivated by love to give, you get no return. None.

Zip.

Zilch.

Nada.

That is why it is so important to let love guide you in everything you do. Read that, let the Holy Spirit guide you in everything you do.

Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

If you want to know how to be led by the Spirit, the simple answer is, “Follow the love of God in your heart.” When God pulls at your heart's love strings, obey him. Feed the homeless. Comfort the hurting. Whatever his love yearns to do, do. This is the New Law.

And if that requires you sacrifice your own in the process, you will receive an hundredfold.

Jesus said so.

Copyright © 2011 Burley Ward. All rights reserved