“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly our under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver,” (2 Cor. 9:7)

As Christians, we can give cheerfully because we know that God will take care of us and reward us abundantly. But we’re not driven to give primarily because of an expectation to receive (2 Cor. 9:6) but because we have already received (John 3:16).

Some Bible examples to follow

·      Give more than just money: In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan who gave time, resources, and skill to meet the need of a man who had been left for dead at the side of the road — demonstrating the valuable gifts of mercy, kindness, and hospitality.

·      Give to see the impossible happen: In Matthew 14:14-21, a little boy gave his small lunch of a few loaves and fishes to Jesus, and He used it to feed over 5,000 people — demonstrating that gifts in God’s hands can be divinely multiplied to meet the demands of greater works.

·      Give out of substance, not size: In Luke 21:1-4, Jesus compares the widow’s mite to the rich man’s gift — demonstrating that all gifts are blessed by God and that He sees the significance of a gift even when others don’t.

Therefore

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Cor. 9:8 ESV)

“Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.” (Prov. 22:9 ESV)

“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Cor. 9:7-8 NIV)

Susan and I love to give and have done so from the first day of our marriage. We saw in this promise Biblical principles to help us understand and receive blessings from putting God first in our financial matters.

I’m happy to report that God has always blessed us dramatically according to this promise in His Word!

What this promise says and what it has taught us about giving

• “God loves a cheerful giver.” We saw early on from this promise that God loves those who give cheerfully, and we wanted to do and be what He clearly said he “loved”!

• “Give what you have decided in your heart to give.” We always made sure we gave to things we truly believed in and cared about; something we could support wholeheartedly without reservation. We made sure that what we were giving to was producing good results and good fruit.

• “Not reluctantly.” We fully trusted in the Biblical principle of tithing and understood from God’s Word that the first part of our income (10%) belonged to God and not to us. Therefore, we never considered it to be our money but always considered it to be His money. Therefore, as soon as our paycheck arrived, we happily wrote our tithe check first, to put His money to work for Him.

• “And God is able to bless you abundantly.” And we believed the promise in Malachi 3 that He would bless us for being faithful in this respect. We were convinced that God was able to bless us abundantly, we expected Him to, and He always has! Above and beyond, in fact!

• “In all things at all times, having all that you need.” We believed God would always meet every need (Phil. 4:19), and it has always been so!

• “You will abound in every good work.” We expected God to give us good work to do, to provide employment, and that He would bless us and prosper us in whatever we put our hands to. That, too, has consistently been the case!

According to Malachi 3:10, God says to test Him on this promise: “Test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”

And we HAVE tested Him by our consistent giving throughout the years, and He has always kept his promise! We are blessed!