Giving does not come from the balance you have in your accounts or the number of notes spread out in your wallet or purse.
Giving, like other things, starts from the RIGHT heart.
It is easy to think this is a casual statement because the believer has often heard so much about the “popular” sins they should avoid, but they don’t know that they can sin because of HOW they gave.
I am of the opinion that the believer sins more unconsciously than consciously. So, you see why the teaching that you lose your salvation once you sin will not help anyone? Because all we think about when we hear the word “sin” is sexual and moral sins. But do you know how many things you can do wrong without even realizing you have done them wrong?
If God counts sins in the way some people imagine he does, no one will stand; not even the person teaching that every sin can take the believer to hell.
Sin means “to miss the mark.”
When God says, “Do this,” and you do something else, that’s sin. It’s that simple.
So, if God has instructed from his word HOW a believer must give, and he gives wrongly, he has missed the mark. You can give your offering in church, for example, and walk away as someone who has sinned, simply because you didn’t do it as God’s word instructs.
For instance, here is one instruction about giving:
“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)
This instruction concerning giving is not limited to giving in the church.
Even when you sent that brother or sister that ₦5,000, if you had grumbled and complained and hissed before giving, your heart was not aligned with the kind of giving Paul describes.
You may have transferred the money, but your heart was resisting the act. And that matters.
God is not merely looking at what left your hand. He is also looking at what was happening in your heart while it left your hand.
That is why giving is not simply a financial transaction. It is a spiritual expression. If you do what God instructs you not to do, that is sin. So, rather than send that money grumbling and complaining, if you genuinely cannot afford to help, kindly say so.
There is nothing wrong with saying, “I don’t have it right now.”
You don’t have to give resentfully just to appear generous. And if you have given in the past from such a state of heart, what you’re reading right now is your repentance and deliverance. You are learning to give differently. You are learning that God is interested in the giver before he is interested in the gift.
See an interesting passage:
“They have been severely tested by the troubles they went through; but their joy was so great that they were extremely generous in their giving, even though they were very poor.” (2 Corinthians 8:2)
There is so much to unpack here.
First, they were passing through great troubles.
Second, they had great joy in the midst of their troubles.
Third, their joy made them give generously.
Fourth, they gave out of their deep poverty.
What a people!
What a mindset!
Who was their teacher?!
They collapsed and obeyed several scriptures all at once!
Well, I’ll leave you to pick out your lessons.
What I wanted to point out here is that these people didn’t give according to their pocket alone. They gave according to their joy. Whatever came out of their pockets was measured by something much deeper than the amount they had. Their circumstances were poor, but their hearts were rich. Their resources were limited, but their joy was not. And this is important because sometimes we think giving is simply about having enough. But the Macedonians show us that generosity is not always the product of abundance. Sometimes, it is the product of gratitude. So, your giving, many times, is a reflection of how much joy you have and how much gratitude you have.
This reminds me of Jesus’ words in Luke 7.
After the woman demonstrated extraordinary love towards Jesus, he told Simon that the one who was forgiven much loves much. (Luke 7:41–43, 47)
There is something about experiencing mercy that makes you want to respond with your whole heart. When you know what you have been forgiven of, gratitude becomes difficult to hide. And that’s why there is a tendency for someone who got born again as a pastor’s child not to take their walk very seriously.
They’ve been around “church.”
They’ve heard the songs.
They’ve heard the prayers.
They’ve watched people give offerings.
They’ve heard the Scriptures.
They’ve seen pastors pray.
They’ve watched people fall under the power of God.
They have seen all of it.
And sometimes, familiarity destroys the wonder.
Familiarity can make what should be sacred feel ordinary. So they know the language of Christianity without necessarily having the heart of Christianity. Especially if they haven’t been exposed to sound teaching.
But you see the ones who got converted from another religion or were once chronic sinners, and there is often this initial zeal and fire around their newfound faith. They give themselves RECKLESSLY to God. Not necessarily because they understand everything. But because they have encountered something they didn’t have before. They know where they came from. They know what they were. And they know what they believe they have now received.
Gratitude has a way of producing generosity.
This is why familiarity is dangerous.
Not because familiarity itself is evil, but because you can become so accustomed to a thing that you stop appreciating what it actually means.
The Israelites were used to the commandments and the law. They were the ones who had the promises and the covenant. They had the prophets. They had the Scriptures. They had the temple. They had the traditions. They had heard about the coming Messiah. And then the Messiah actually came. But because they had become so familiar with the things of God, many of them could not recognize the One those things were pointing towards.
Jesus said:
“People will come from east and west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 8:11)
And the context is striking because Jesus was responding to the faith of a Gentile. The people who thought they were closest were sometimes the ones who had become least responsive.
It’s the same thing, most times, with some of our giving.
Don’t become so familiar with church giving or with giving to people that you now do it without joy and gratitude to God for what he has given you. Don’t let giving become another religious routine.
Don’t let the offering basket become so familiar that you throw money into it without even thinking about the God who gave you the ability to earn it.
Don’t let transferring money to someone become so ordinary that you forget that you are participating in the goodness of God towards another human being.
Do all things—including giving—without murmuring and complaining. (Philippians 2:14)
And remember, you don’t have to murmur or complain with your mouth only. Your heart can murmur and complain even if your face is all smiles and laughter. Your lips can say, “God bless you,” while your heart is saying, “I can’t believe I had to give this money.” Your hand can release the money while your heart is holding on to it. And perhaps that is why giving is such a beautiful spiritual discipline.
Because sometimes, God is not simply trying to get something from you. He is trying to develop something in you.
Gratitude.
Generosity.
Contentment.
Freedom from the love of money.
Freedom from the fear of lack.
Freedom from the need to hold everything tightly because you are afraid there won’t be enough tomorrow.
Giving becomes beautiful when it is no longer merely about the money.
It becomes an expression of the heart.