1. The Way of Giving and Its Rewards
World Scripture
You will not attain piety until you expend of what you love; and whatever thing you expend, God knows of it.
Qur’an 3.92
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Acts 20.35
He who gives liberally goes straight to the gods; on the high ridge of heaven he stands exalted.
Rig Veda 1.125.5 (Hinduism)
Give not with the thought to gain, and be patient unto thy Lord.
Qur’an 74.6-7
One must pour cold water on the ground before he can tread on soft soil.25
Yoruba Proverb (African Traditional Religions)
One man gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. A liberal man will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.
Proverbs 11.24-25
Verily, misers go not to the celestial realms. Fools do not indeed praise liberality. The wise man rejoices in giving and thereby becomes happy thereafter.
Dhammapada 177 (Buddhism)
The accumulation of wealth is the way to scatter the people, and the letting it be scattered among them is the way to collect the people.
Great Learning 10.9 (Confucianism)
He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work.
2 Corinthians 9.6-8
The Buddha said, “When you see someone practicing the Way of giving, aid him joyously, and you will obtain vast and great blessings.” A novice asked, “Is there an end to those blessings?” The Buddha said, “Consider the flame of a single lamp. Though a hundred thousand people come and light their own lamps from it so that they can cook their food and ward off the darkness, the first lamp remains the same as before. Blessings are like this, too.”
Sutra of Forty-two Sections 10 (Buddhism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Is the essence of [ordinary] human love the same as the original essence God’s love? Out of human love, people seek to receive; but when we embody God’s original love, we seek to give.
(130:118, January 1, 1984)
True love begins from investing and forgetting.
(225:15, January 1, 1992)
Goodness is the driving force that advances life. Therefore, we must give. What shall we give? We should give life. More than your life, you should give your love—the one love that is of God—parental love. That is why our motto is, “Go forth with the heart of the parent, in the shoes of a servant, shedding sweat for earth, tears for humanity, and blood for heaven.” Do this, and you will not perish. Absolutely, you will not perish.
(34:246, September 13, 1970)
The universe’s motion began with an act of giving. I teach that all motion arises according to the principle of give-and-take action.26 Does “give-and-take action” mean we first give and then take, or first take and then give? When you give first and then receive you feel good, but when you receive and cannot give you feel ashamed.
(239:222, November 25, 1992)
In give-and-take action, does “give” come first, or “take?” Giving comes first. Do parents first give for the sake of their children, or children for the sake of their parents? Parents give first. Then it is logical that the act of giving began with the One who is the origin of all existence, and through the links of the chain of existence it has been passed down to us.
(239:59, November 23, 1992)
Unity takes place where people invest creative energy—where there is giving. It does not happen where people mainly seek to receive. To receive can be good if after receiving, you add interest to it and give out more than you received. But even God dislikes the person who receives and only seeks to receive still more. No more will be given to him.
(82:326, February 1, 1976)
Take an illustration of a good man and a bad man. Each begins with ten friends. The good man unselfishly serves his friends day in and day out, this year, next year, for ten years, for his whole life. All ten people say he is their very best friend. Since they like him, they introduce him to their mother and sisters and all their relatives. The bad man thinks that his friends exist to serve him. By the time he tells them three times, “Hey you! Serve me!” every one of his friends would run away; they would want nothing more to do with him. Isn’t that true? It is universally true: A self-centered way of life leads you down the road of self-destruction, to hell. But those who give, living their lives in service to others, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. They are living in accordance with God’s Principle.
(69:86, October 20, 1973)
God created all creatures in heaven and earth by investing completely His heart of love. It means He gave. Because God has this nature, it is certain that a counterpart will come into being who also has such a heart. As a result, human beings can form a relationship with God, and through that relationship, to manifest God’s love. By living this way, we can only prosper. Our conscience does not understand this fact logically and with certainty, but nevertheless it tells us to love each other and live for the sake of each other. Similarly, religions teach us to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others. Thus our conscience, in agreement with morality and ethics, tells us to live for the sake of others, sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others, and love others.
(112:300, April 25, 1981)