Love and Prosperity
(week 20/05)
Olubi Johnson
Luke 6:27-38 NIV: “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect a repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.“
Here we see that the condition for us to receive financial blessings from our giving is love. We are to love not just those who are good to us, but our enemies, the ungrateful and even the wicked.
We are to love those who do not deserve love. This can only be done by the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5.5): it is asupernatural love.
It holds the promise of great material prosperity:
38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” NIV
This is because a man governed by God’s love will use his prosperity for the benefit of others, rather than to oppress them.
So it is the degree to which you fulfill the condition of this divine love: undeserved good-will, that will determine the degree to which you can claim the promise of Luke 6.38 above.
The reason many Christians do not get any or enough blessings when they give their tithes and offerings is because they are not developed in divine love.
So to increase your material prosperity start increasing in divine love by daily practice in the Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
