Giving is a spiritual issue. The Bible has more to say about money than it does about heaven or hell. As Christians, we must ensure we are, first of all, giving, and second, giving with the right attitude.
I trust that most of you see Sunday as the best day of the week and that you look forward to gathering corporately with the saints. I hope there is anticipation in your heart for the preaching, for the time of praise and worship, and for the mutual encouragement. You may not place the time of the weekly offering high on your list of what you look forward to at church, but I am convinced that if we really got a hold of the teaching of Scripture concerning our attitude on giving, the taking of the offering would become one of the highlights for us each week.
So then, how do we maintain the right attitude when we give? Consider the following:
- Don’t let your giving become routine.
You can go through the motions in your giving by viewing it as simply another bill to pay—right alongside your mortgage, rent, utilities, and car payments. Your giving in the Name of the King is so much more than that! You bring Him honor when you faithfully and generously give your tithes and offerings.
When you write out your check or place your cash in the envelope, it will be helpful to remind yourself what your giving is used for. Your giving directly supports missions, both locally and globally. Your giving supports the ministers who have been called by the Lord to serve among you. Your giving supports our various ministries, from the nursery to the teenagers, from the worship team to the children. Your giving matters and it makes a difference.
- Give generously.
The attitude in giving that the Lord is pleased with does not consider how little can be given. Don’t look to give what you think is the bare minimum: “…he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor.9:6). From this verse we learn that the size of the harvest is directly proportionate to the amount of seed sown. Generous givers will reap generous blessings from God (Cf. Prov.11:24-25).
We can all learn much from the Macedonians. These believers were faced with relentless hardship, poverty, opposition, and persecution. Even in the face of such difficulty, they offered no excuses. They did not try to get out of giving with the excuse that they were so poor. In fact, just the opposite was true, as recorded in 2 Corinthians 8:1-4:
Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints.
- Enjoy giving.
The right attitude in giving involves the joy that you should experience when obeying the Lord this way. You have heard that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor.9:7), but does the word “cheerful” really describe how you give? God doesn’t want your giving if it comes through clenched teeth. The enjoyment comes when you give for the right reason, with the right motivation, and to the glory of God.
The Lord wants you to have the joy of knowing that it is better to give than to receive and that He gives back to you in greater measure than what you give to Him.