Giving Cheerfully

“…for God loves a cheerful giver.
Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need,
you may have an abundance for every good work.”

2 Cor. 9:7b-8

How do you give? Do you give for the sake of giving or do you give for some other reason? In other words, do you give to get something in return? To truly give we must give cheerfully and freely, without the need to be given anything in return.

If we give with conditions, what does that really say about us? When we write out a check to a particular charity or when we put in some amount of money in the collection basket in church, what’s on our minds? Do we think about the sacrifice we are making or do we think about the people who may benefit from our donation? If we feel good, do we feel good because we did something good or do we feel good because we know someone less fortunate will be helped? Perhaps there is not right or wrong answer and maybe sometimes it is both. But at the heart of our giving, if we judge while we give, then I think we are giving for the wrong reasons. We ought to give because we know we have been given so much. If we do not think that we have been given much, then we ought to look around and count the blessings in our lives.

We can only be cheerful givers if we are first cheerful receivers.