A healthy attitude to Christian giving

All things

People get into such a tizzy many times when the subject of Christian giving comes up. You see we forget sometimes that God will give us all the things we need so it is ok to give things away. Romans ch8 v32 says, He ... did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” The greatest need of all people was to be saved from the lost eternity that we have inherited from the first Adam. God didn’t even spare his son but did what ever was necessary to get the job done. So how much more able is he to give us all the other things that we need? Easy. We have the promise in writing — look at Matthew ch6 v25-34.

He gives us far more than we actually need.

So shouldn’t we keep all the things that God gives us then since they are things that we need? Well, no. The Bible says God loves a joyful giver. Why? Because He is a joyful giver—remember He gave His son. More than that He is a generous giver, He gives us far more than we actually need. We are called to be like him.

Much of the discomfort we feel about giving is that we like to think of things and money as ours. We have to remember that we can take none of it with us when we die—we are just temporary keepers of it all, it all belongs to God in the end. We know how temporarily money stays in our purse! When we think of the long term it makes sense that we can take none of it with us when we die but we lose sight of the long term and start worrying about tomorrow. God wants us to stop worrying about tomorrow (Matthew ch6 v34) and start thinking about eternity. The Bible says that everything under the sun is meaningless (Ecclesiastes ch1 v2-3) Huh? That sounds pretty odd. What it means is what I have been saying—you can’t take anything with you when you die so hanging on to things is pointless. What is NOT meaningless is the treasure that we store up in heaven (Matthew ch6 v19-21) “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We give because God first gives to us.

What does that mean then? It means that the essence of who you are—the loving, caring, Godly part of you will last so you had better make sure that there is a lot of it because that is all you will have! Part of loving and caring for others is to meet their needs through your generosity. Not just through giving of your cast offs—though there is a place for that—but giving the best of what you have and are. Giving your money, giving your time, giving your love, your expertise and experience, giving yourself because all these things belong to God anyway. We give because God first gives to us.

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This article © Linda Faber 2006-2009.