Anyone can give. But not every act of giving gets Heavenly “credit.” There is a way of giving that leverages both approval by God and blessing response to you from God.
Do you want to do something tangible and physical that causes approval from God and motivates Him to bless you? Here is the key from the Apostle Paul.
“Each one, as he purposes in his heart, let him give; not of grief, or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that in everything, always having all self-sufficiency, you may abound to every good work…” (2 Corinthians 9:7,8 MKJV).
1. The word purposes is in the perfect tense meaning that one determines to be in that attitude and will continue in that attitude. In other words there is a solid commitment without wavering on what is to be given.
2. The word heart takes the concept past the logical thinker of the conscious mind to a relational position with God. The heart, or sub-conscious part of us, is where we commune with God. So this type giving comes from the “secret place” (see my previous article) and is not necessarily “logical” – this type giving may not make sense to the outward man or the logical thinker of this world.
3. The word not of grief (grudgingly in the KJV) literally means – not out of sorrow. In other words, if you are crying about seeing your dollar leave you as a sacrifice to God or to help someone else, something is wrong. The heart is wrong. This must be corrected if Heavenly credit comes. God is not pleased with this attitude and the intimation is that He will not bless, prosper or favor. So you could be “shooting yourself in the foot” and not getting Heavenly credit even when you give!
4. The word cheerful comes from a root word in the Greek pronounced hilaron. I can’t be certain of this but our word hilarious may come from the concept. It is only used here in the New Testament. In other words, the key to leveraging Heavenly credit is in this attitude of cheerfulness when we let the dollar leave our hand.
5. Now notice the positives in verse 8 – all grace, abound, in everything, all self-sufficiency, abound, every good work. And notice that it is personal – toward you.
This is powerful stuff! How we give is important for Heavenly credit.
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