An authentic church should be filled with cheerful givers. God said so in His Word. 

In 2 Corinthians 9:7, Paul wrote that God loves a cheer-filled giver.  WOW.  What if we were all cheer-filled givers?  Just think how wonderful that would be…  I have been a member of several churches through the years of my spiritual pilgrimage.  In every one of those churches, we all needed a nudge now and then toward more consistent giving. 

“For God so loved the world that He…gave…”.   So, have you ever read John 3:16 with that exact emphasis?  God gave Jesus, the unspeakable gift (2 Corinthians 9:15).  God gave a gift so amazing that describing it in words is literally impossible.  No gift we ever present will equal the One that God gave as an offering for the cleansing of our sins.  Our only response must be the same as Paul recorded, “thanks be to God.” 

When I was six years old, I started first grade.  My baby sister had her first birthday. I accepted Christ into my heart as my Lord and my Savior.  I was baptized by my own dad who called me his “little sister in Christ” as he slipped me down into the water and raised me up again.  That same year, our mother was diagnosed with leukemia. I didn’t realize all that would mean for my family. 

Our grandmother sent me five dollars every week as an allowance and encouraged me to “help your mother in the house.”  She sent the money in cash inside an envelope with a handwritten note.  “Baby, here’s your money.  Now you give your daddy fifty cents right away to put in the offering plate next Sunday.  Take one fifty and put that in your piggy bank for college.  Then you can take what’s left and spend it on something you need and maybe something you want.  BUT.  Remember this:  ALL of this money and everything we have belongs to God.  He is watching what you spend it on…and…worse than God watching you, I’m gonna ask you what you did with that other three dollars!” 

Everything we have, all that we are, anything we hope to be belongs to God.  We are simply stewards of our time, our money, our lives.  When we stand before the Lord, I want to be able for Him to say that I did what He asked me to do.  I gave what He asked me to give.  I followed Him faithfully with all He provided. 

Charitable giving is a great thing.  We should find proper “good” causes to support.  Giving to the church is NOT charitable giving.  God gave us all of creation.  What a gifting!  God gave us Himself to walk beside us in the gardens of life.  God displayed giving when He shed the blood of some innocent creature and fashioned clothing for Adam and Eve in their sinfully separated condition.  God gave His only Son. 

God showed Abraham about giving in Genesis 14.  After the rescue of his nephew Lot, Abraham gave Melchizedek the king and priest of (Jeru)Salem a tithe (one tenth) of all of the spoils of war.  Moses would learn about giving to the Lord and also about making sacrifices in the book of Exodus.  All through the Old Testament, giving was emphasized.  As he purchased the future temple mount from Araunah the Jebusite, David declared that he would “not offer burnt offerings to the Lord that cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24.)  Through the story of the widow and her “two-penny mite,” Jesus taught the disciples an amazing truth about giving (Mark 12:41).  In Acts 5, the story of Ananias and Sapphire speaks for itself. Their heart contents and intents were evil.

The key to giving is found in 2 Corinthians 8:3-5.  The people looked for needs that should be met and according to their ability, even beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord.  How were they able to do that?  Because they gave themselves FIRST to the Lord (see verse ten).  That’s the key.  When our SELVES belong to our Creator, giving in return is a joy!  When we see all that, He has done for us, our giving should pour out freely in return. 

Paul uses the reaping and sowing illustration.  We reap “as” we sow.  We reap “when” we sow with right motives.  God knows when we do.  God knows when we don’t.  Look at

2 Corinthians 9:7. We must give not “grudgingly” or with sadness of heart because we “have to” and we must not give “of necessity” as though we are feeling obliged or otherwise compelled or forced.  The first part of that verse gives the best explanation:  every person should give according to the way they have decided IN THEIR HEARTS.  This comes after time spent with the Lord in prayer and thanksgiving.  A heart decision yields a life action. 

Not bowing to the prosperity gospel in the least, I can biblically say that God provides fully for those who give their hearts and lives to Him.  That does NOT mean we give in order to receive.  We give because God is good.  He deserves our best in all areas.  My granny loved this verse in Psalm 37: “I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging for bread.”

The word “provision” is a keeper.  It means to see (vision) ahead (pro) and provide.  God knows what we need today. He knows what we are going to need tomorrow and every tomorrow until it becomes today with Him in His house.  God PRO (ahead of time) VISIONS (sees and solves) us.  We can trust Him and rest in that. In 2 Corinthians 9:8 you will see that God is able to make all grace abound toward us and that under His care, we will have sufficiency in all things.  We will be contented and satisfied in all of our necessary necessaries.  Seeds to the farmer equal promises of future provision.  From the beginning, God made plants with seeds inside them.  His plan was to ALWAYS provide for His followers.  His plan has not changed one penny. I prefer to call it……… “A-Bidin-Nomics.”  We abide.  He provides. We give.  He supplies.  Rinse and repeat.