The previous blog on giving laid a foundation, and that foundation involves a right heart. Now let’s build on the foundation. Some principles for practical giving.
Give Everything
Sometimes when we talk about giving, people think only about money. This is a mistake. Some people are merely one-dimensional givers. They will write a check or tithe online, then wipe their hands and live the rest of their lives for themselves. They may consider themselves givers because they gave some money, but Biblical giving involves much more.
When your heart belongs to God, you give Him everything. Don’t give just money. Give your time to God’s kingdom. Give of your home, your car, and your skills to help the needy, to build the church, and to advance the gospel. Everything you have should be in God’s hands to use as He pleases.
Give Sacrificially
When Jesus was at the temple watching everyone put their gifts into the collection box. He claimed that the poor widow’s two coins were a greater gift than the gifts of all the others, “for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
God does not measure giving in dollars and cents. He measures giving by sacrifice. The greatest givers are not necessarily those who give the most money but those who give up the most in order to give. The charitable foundations of the rich make the headlines, and people applaud the millions of dollars they give, but the givers behind those foundations still live their plush lifestyles. In the end, they have given little.
Your giving should impact your lifestyle. I’m not saying that we must live in poverty in order to give properly, but I am saying that sacrificial giving is a sacrifice, and when you sacrifice, you go without things you would otherwise have.
The story of the poor widow addresses specifically the giving of money, but the principle Jesus mentions applies to other types of giving as well. Give sacrificially of your time and skills and resources. If you do, you will have to sacrifice not just material comforts but activities you might otherwise want to do or personal desires you might otherwise have. Maybe you cannot attend a concert you would like to attend because you are busy teaching some women the gospel. Maybe you have to sacrifice your desire to sleep in order to pray or you have to miss a meal in order to help someone. Giving sacrificially can involve all of these examples. But whatever it involves, it will change how you live.
Give Now
I have had many people tell me that they want to give to God’s work but can’t because they are not financially able. But one day when they have money – then they will give. They misunderstand giving. They think the main part of giving is the money.
People who put off giving until a time when they have enough money rarely give, for when they get more money, they still don’t have enough. I think again of the poor widow at the temple. If she had put off giving until a future time, she never would have given at all.
Giving is not for the future. It is for now. People who talk about how much they would give if they had the money are not typically givers. Givers are people who give regardless of what they have. And they rarely talk about it. They just do it. And they do it now.
Giving is Good for You
Giving is medicine for the heart. Jesus talked a lot about money and possessions because they are powerful forces. They will steal your heart if you are not careful. The most potent antidote to the love of money is to give it away. When we give, we let go. God wants us to hold on tightly to Jesus, not to our stuff. Giving is, thus, one of the most freeing disciplines a person can practice. It frees your heart from slavery to this world.
I remember talking to the dad of a person in our church. This dad was not a Christian and was angry that his son tithed to the church, and the dad challenged me about it. He said, “Why do you have to give to God? God doesn’t need your money.”
I replied, “You’re right. He doesn’t need my money, but I need to give for the sake of my soul. I give partly because it is good for me, not because I think God somehow needs my money.”
