HOW SHOULD I GIVE?

a)      Your attitude matters

“Each of you should give whatever you have decided. You shouldn't be sorry that you gave or feel forced to give, since God loves a cheerful giver.” 2Cor9:7GW

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. KJV

We are told to give as we purpose in our heart. To ‘purpose’ means, ‘to decide, to resolve or intend to do.’ We should give as we have resolved in our heart to give. As we have decided on our own free will. Not from pressure, fear, manipulation or threats.

Giving because we are compelled by the preacher or threatened or emotionally manipulated is not pleasing to God. God wants us to give on our own free will, joyfully, willingly and cheerfully. That is giving in faith and love.

1Corinthians13:3 tells us that giving without love as out motive is useless and nullifies our gift “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” NKJV

This word that was translated ‘grudgingly’ in 2Cor9:7 is a compound Greek word (ek lupe).

Ek means out of, from, by

Lupe means sorrow, pain, grief, annoyance, affliction. It was translated in several New Testament scriptures as sorrow, heaviness, grievous and grief.

Therefore to give grudgingly means to give out of sorrow, pain, grief, annoyance etc. It means to be reluctant to give. It is when you give when you don’t really want to but because you fear God’s punishment, or the curse, or you will feel bad if you don’t or the preacher has manipulated you and made you feel ashamed or miserable or whatever if you don’t give.

If some preacher is compelling you to give to them so that you get a blessing or anointing or some miracle but you don’t want to, that is giving grudgingly. This is giving grudgingly and God doesn’t like it.

There are times when God will tell you to give specific amounts of money to help meet the need of someone else or for your own personal benefit. However, this is not all the time. Most of the time it is up to you to decide how much you want to give and how much you can give with a good attitude and in faith and love. God wants you to give because you want to. Because you desire to be a blessing and to help others.

Necessity. (anagkē) it means necessity imposed by circumstances, constraint, distress, must needs, needful, calamity, straits

This is when we give because we have to, because it is a must or because a preacher or ministry is in trouble and they need our money or else they are going down.

This is how most Christians give. They tithe because they must and they give only when the church or minister is in trouble and needs their gifts.

If the reason you tithe is because you fear the curse and think that you must tithe, you are giving grudgingly and of necessity.

You should only give when you want to give. When you are cheerful about it. If it saddens you to part with your hard earned money, keep it! If you treasure your ‘hard earned’ money so much that you can’t cheerfully give to God keep it, He doesn’t want it either!

Of course you won’t hear this on the pulpit, it is not religiously correct. But it’s true. Don’t give out of condemnation or compulsion, only give when you want to, when you are happy to be a blessing.

The ultimate motivation for giving is to give as we purpose in our heart, cheerfully and in faith and love.

IF YOU ARE NOT CHEERFUL WHEN GIVING TO GOD, KEEP YOUR MONEY!

b)      If you trust God, it is common sense to give.

Luke6:38 “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” KJV

Imagine that I was a very wealthy man and I made you a promise that if you gave me one million shillings I would give you back ten million shillings. And I provided guarantees and you were sure beyond any doubt that I would fulfill this promise and that I had the capacity. Would you give me the one million?

Of course you would. Even if you didn’t have the one million you would borrow it. It is common sense. You would be stupid not to give me the one million if you were absolutely sure I was going to multiply it and give you back ten times more.

Why? Because this is a very good investment. It is a very good deal. You would not look at the one million you give me as money lost or thrown away. You would look at it as an investment or a seed.

And yet many of us look at giving to God as losing money. We look at the money we give as a sacrifice or as money that we lose. Rarely do we look at it as an investment or as seed.

And yet Jesus makes us the promise in Luke6:38 that if we give, it will be given back to us a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:19 that because we give, God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in glory.

In 2Corinthians9: 8-10 we are told that when we give, God will make all grace to abound toward us so that at all times we have whatever we need and abundance to give to every good work. In verse 10 we are told that God multiplies the seed that we sow.

When you give to God and His work, the money that you give doesn’t leave your life, it is not a loss. Instead, that money is a seed or an investment into your future. God multiplies it and it comes back to you abundantly in this life and in the next. 

When you understand this you realize that you need to give. It is to your advantage to give. All the money you have is potential seed. Eat it and it is gone. Sow it and you have multiplied it and invested into your future and into eternity. Plus you have been a blessing to someone else and are participating in the advancement of the Kingdom of God through the preaching of the gospel.

When you understand this, you will stop disliking offering time. You will feel cheated when a preacher doesn’t receive an offering after preaching. That preacher is denying you an opportunity to invest into your future and to receive a multiplied harvest from God.

You will discover what Jesus meant when He said that “It is more blessed to give than to receive” Acts20:35