Giving

Christians should be the most generous people in the world.  God is our model for giving.  Scripture reveals several reasons why we should give.  Giving is an expression of devotion to God (Acts 4:36-5:3).  When we give, we are giving to God.  When we give, we are not giving to the church.  The Biblical picture is that we give to God through the church.  The church is one of the God ordained vehicles by which we give to Him.  Proper giving starts with us first giving ourselves to God.  When we give ourselves to God, our resources follow (2 Cor. 8:3-5).  We have to move from an ownership model of thinking to a stewardship model of thinking.  We have been entrusted with something that doesn’t belong to us that we must manage and manage well so that the One who gave it to us will be pleased. 

​Giving is a reflection of the nature of God.  “Abundant grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33).  God is a giving God.  It is in God’s nature to give.  In fact, our ability to give is a testimony to God giving to us.  We don’t deserve or earn the blessings of God.  God gives because He wants to give.  “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights…” James 1:17 (NKJV).  In giving we show that we understand why God has given to us.  He gives to us so that we can give.  We should reflect His generosity in our giving.  Giving is one of the primary opportunities that we are given to look like God. 

Giving is a demonstration of trust in God (Proverbs 3:5-10) we are familiar with verses 5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart…in all your ways acknowledge Him...”  The wise man then gives three areas of application for these principles: decisions, dollars, discipline.  We are to honor the Lord with our substance and with the first fruits.  This idea of honoring the Lord is the idea of showing how great and worthy God is.  When we give to God what is first, we have to have enough faith to believe that He will make sure that we have enough to sustain us.  When we don’t give, it is an indication that we don’t trust.  First fruits giving is faith giving.  First fruits giving says Lord, you mean so much to me that I am going to give to you and trust you to supply my need.  We have not come to the point where we trust God with all of our heart and acknowledge Him in all of our ways until we do so financially.