Why Give?

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 ESV
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 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.

Giving, or in our church language “stewardship,” is always a hard subject. Money tends to bring problems. Why? I Timothy 6:10 covers that, even to the fact that some in the ministry have turned from the ministry to money. Which brings us to verse 6 of today’s reading. Do you give little or do you give much? God’s word promises we receive depending on how we give. If you tend not to give much, you need to ask yourself “why?” Is it a distrust of church leaders? Is it that you don’t have much to live on? Is it because you just didn’t know why you had to? I can’t address all of these in this forum without writing pages upon pages, but what I can do is address one point that will cover all of the passage we are reading today: it’s about what you depend on more, either God or money.

First of all, God does not need your money, He just wants your love. God owns everything. (Ps 50:10). Giving to Him is not doing Him a favor. It is a way for us to show where we put our hope, trust and faith. As verse 7 puts it we must decide what we will give. In other words, where is the point that you are joyfully trusting in the Lord to meet your needs? This is not to put guilt on you, but to show that it is a growth process we all go through. Every time we trust Him a little more with what we have (money, talent and time), He grows us a little more.

That brings us to verse 8. When we totally put our trust in the Lord when it comes to finances, He frees us up from the worry of money so we are able to love Him and love others (“abound in every good work”). If you have followed this devotional, my opinion is that good works is our way of showing love – love in action.