The Blessing of Giving

II Corinthians 9:6-7 (NLT)
6 Remember this – a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

Good morning and happy November to you all! October flew by and I feel like I haven’t talked to you all in quite a while. School and work are keeping me busy and I apologize for not posting more consistently. This blog has been a blessing to me and I enjoy it thoroughly and I miss the opportunity to post on a daily basis. The feedback I have received has not only been encouraging but it has also helped me in my walk of faith. I hope it has done the same for you. Now onto business!!

We have been looking at finances and tithing recently and a devotional I just read ties into our conversation perfectly so I thought I would pass on a few things that I read. Today we will look at the What we give and Why we give and at a later date we will look at What happens and How God responds.

I have always believed that as our faith increases and our love and trust in Jesus Christ grows that our life and actions should change. We should be different from the people around us that are unbelievers. We should look different. Our speech should be different. We should look out for others instead of always looking out for ourselves. We should be generous in our giving of not only our money but also of our time and any other resources that God has blessed us with. We should pray and use our spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ as well. As we grow in our faith, our desire to show God’s love to others should increase.

What we give:
II Corinthians 8:12 says that “Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly.”

Romans 12:6-8 talks about the different gifts that God has blessed us with. If He has given you a specific gift He expects you to use it and use it well.

James 5:6 says that prayer is a gift that we should use for each other. It is a powerful gift that can produce wondrous results. One should never say that “All I can do is pray, I can’t give anything else.” Prayer is something every child of God can do. You can never be too busy or too poor to get on your knees before the Creator and praise Him, thank Him, and bring your requests to Him.

Galatians 5:3-14 says it all; “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Jesus summed up the entire OT in two commands: 1) Love God and 2) Love others.

Why we give:
II Corinthians 8:3 speaks of giving not only what you can afford and give comfortably but give even more. This stretches our faith muscles and places our dependence exclusively on God.

I Peter 5:2-3 to watch over what God has given you willingly, not grudgingly. It says that we are to do this not for what we may gain but because of our love for God and our eagerness to serve Him.

II Corinthians 8:5 states that we are to give ourselves to the Lord and to others because we desire to follow the will of God.

So, obviously God wants us to be generous and as we extend ourselves toward others He will bless us for our actions. That blessing shouldn’t be our motivation for serving though. We should be motivated to serve by a sincere heart and a love for God.

Questions:
1) Think of the ways that you share things with others; your time, spiritual gifts, and resources. How could you give more in these areas?

2) As your walk of faith has grown and matured how has your giving increased or changed? Why? What is your motivation?

Think about these things and in our next post we will conclude our discussion on the blessing of being generous.

Have a good day and God bless.