"I Will Give Half My Wealth To The Poor."

drawn by Tim Graves

When Zacchaeus met Jesus for the first time, He was so in awe of Jesus' holy presence and His knowledge of him, the first thing Zacchaeus said to the Lord was he would give half of all his wealth to the poor, and to those he cheated he would repay them back four times as much. Now let's go over that again. Zacchaeus didn't say he would give half of all his wealth "to the Lord" or "to the church" or "to the disciples", but to the poor.

"Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord

and said, 'I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord,

and if I have cheated people on their taxes,

I will give them back four times as much!'"

Luke 19:8a (NLT)

Zacchaeus got it right and Jesus was pleased, but how many Christians get it right? So many Christians think they give their money to the Lord, but instead they entrust it to a church with mega expenses. As a result, very little or none of it goes to the poor or needy. Do you think Jesus is pleased? No. I think Jesus is disgusted at most modern church budgets.