One of the instructions God gave the children of Israel as they anticipated to enter the promised land was about giving. He knew that the promised land will yield bountifully for them because it was a fertile land that was productive.
God's instruction to them about giving did not just stop at telling them to give after their harvest. In addition, he told them to give proportionately to the blessings received.
What is proportionate giving? It is giving what is commensurate to the volume of blessings received. That is, those that have been blessed with plenty are expected to give in proportion to the plenty blessing received not less.
For instance, the giving of a man earning $1 000 monthly is expected to be more than the giving of the man earning $350 dollars monthly. If the man who earns $1 000 gives lesser than the one who earns $350, that is disproportionate giving and I doubt God will be pleased with such giving.
Those who give disproportionately are stingy people. With increase in blessing, they increase their expenses without increasing their giving. The bible says, "Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything" ( Proverbs 11:24 NLT).
Some persons think God is a beggar who can be given a pittance. No he is not. With increase in your harvest should come increase in your giving to the Lord. We are meant to lavish our harvest on him.
I have observed that those who fail to give proportionately spend lavishly on mundane things. Is it not surprising that some of those who buy VIP tables in millions at comedy shows are Christians but will never give such a huge amount for the Lord's work?. It shows where their heart is.
Apostle Paul says, "Now you should finish what you started... GIVE IN PROPORTION TO WHAT YOU HAVE. [12] Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have" (2 Corinthians 8:11-12 Emphasis mine).
The same attitude to giving God expected of the Jews in the old testament is the same expected of us under the new testament.
