AM I A CHEERFUL GIVER?

Why do I give? Is it because I want to or because I have to? Is giving something I do out of obligation, or do I do it because I’m truly grateful to God for his blessings in my life? Or do I give to God because of what I stand to gain? After all, II Corinthians 9:6b says he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully, which is of course true, but should that be the sole reason why you give to God?

2 Corinthians 9:7 “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” (NKJV)

Although I had encountered this scripture on multiple occasions ; It wasn’t until recently that I was brought to a place where it made me question the true intentions behind me giving to God, I realized for a long time I had been giving to God from place of obligation; I dare say I was giving to GOD because I had to not necessarily because I wanted to, I realized that I was giving almost grudgingly, anytime I gave to God I would think about how it will affect my account balance and do so many calculations, and this wasn’t even because I was necessarily trying to make wise financial decisions because I wouldn’t give as much thought to spending on other things that weren’t even as important. And the thing about this is I was doing it subconsciously; I didn’t think much of it, and this might be the case for so many of us.

This verse brought me to the realisation that being a cheerful giver has a lot to do with the heart or reason behind your giving to God, and this prompted me to renew my mindset with regards to giving. If God had done so much for me, why was it so hard for me to be truly grateful and show my appreciation by giving him a token of gratitude in my resources, knowing that no matter how much I gave him, it wouldn’t be enough to tell him thank you? With this renewed way of thinking, I’m able to not only give from a place of wanting to but also from a place of true gratitude.

Another realisation I came to was that God wasn’t looking at the amount but the heart behind the offering; now this doesn’t mean give God as small as possible, but it means give him something that is valuable to you; give in relation to what you have; in Luke 21 we see the story of the widow’s mite, how she gave a little amount compared to what the rich man gave but how it was a more valuable offering in relation to what she had. As a student, sometimes you may find it difficult to give because it feels like you have so many things you need to do with your money, but remember that if you are unable to give in your little, you would also find it difficult even when you have a lot, and remember you’re the only one who knows if you are truly giving God a befitting offering.

In today’s world, giving of tithes and offerings or even giving to God’s work as a whole has been given a negative connotation, it is viewed as something you do when you don’t have better use of your money or when you have too much money, people even say things like why not give your money to the poor instead of giving it to the church; this isn’t really news because this has being a discourse from time, Even Jesus was faced with one such discourse in the book of John 12:3-8 when Mary( lazarus’ sister) anointed his feet with an expensive fragrance oil and Judas Iscariot who was stealing from the treasury and later betrayed Jesus argued that it was better to sell the oil and give the proceeds to the poor than “ waste” it on Jesus, but scripture makes us understand that you don’t have to pick one or the other; as a cheerful giver your giving to God doesn’t replace your giving to the poor. I guess what I’m trying to say is the world will give you so many reasons why you shouldn’t give and, most importantly, why you shouldn’t be cheerful while giving.

So are we really cheerful givers?