Christians & Giving of Gifts
January 16, 2010
Some thoughts for all Christian (especially those in market place)
Genesis chapter 32 starts off with Jacob preparing presents for Esau. This was a pretty smart move on behalf of Jacob.
In modern business parlance, you could look at all this as bribery… 
But, I guess I thought Jacob was demonstrating some good business / political principles here….
The Bible says that gifts out of good intention pleases the receiver, but gifts with the intention of gaining favor and pushing someone to do something that he ordinarily would not have done (had the gifts not been given), in other words, bribery, is illegal and ….. a sin
(cf Pro 15:27, 19:6, 29:4, 1Ti 6:9-10)
This is something that Christians struggle with at times – a balance of utilizing good business principles versus relying completely on God.
I suppose you could argue that Jacob should have simply relied on God to prepare the way for Jacob’s meeting with Esau (and rightly so)
That said, if you were in Jacob’s shoes, think about how you would have behaved if you had no way of knowing that Esau did not hold any grudge against Jacob and Jacob was completely forgiven (20 years of fretting gone down the drain!! – a lesson on the futility of worry, i guess) … and how you were worried over your past deceptive acts …
I do think that clearly our reliance should be on God and His work and providence first and foremost. (what do you say?)
I believe God also wants us to be actively partnering with him. So, I think after we first pray to God about a situation, we should also do the work that we are called to do by God for the situation as well. This is where I think good business / political principles can come into play – as long as they are clearly aligned with the will of God & the Word of God. Again, this is a fine line to walk, and a line that can only be blessed by the Holy Spirit.
We cannot walk this line on our own power or smarts. Do you pray to God to show you the work He wants you to do in your life? Do you also ask God to show you the work to be done in various situations that arise in your life? Do you enjoy working with God?
Share your thoughts
