A Heart For Giving

A Heart For Giving

“So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you ... may have an abundance for every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 NKJV

This verse reminds us that God is able to provide all that is needed for His work by stirring the hearts of His people to give willingly. The Lord defines an acceptable giver as one who gives “willingly, with his heart” (Ex. 25:2). In Exodus 35:5 the Lord tells His people that only those who have “a willing heart” should give.

Then Exodus 35:21 records the response of the people: “Everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering for the work.” Exodus 35:29 confirms that the only offerings acceptable to the Lord were freewill “offerings” from men and women “whose hearts were willing.”

God does not want our giving to be “a grudging obligation,” but rather “a matter of generosity,” because He really wants us to be “cheerful” givers who “reap bountifully” as we see His “grace abound” toward us (2 Cor. 9:5-8). In other words, He wants to bless those who give with the knowledge that everything they have to give has come from Him. The more we give what He’s already given us, the more God gives us to give.

In 1 Chronicles 29:9, we are told that those who gave for the building of the Temple “rejoiced, for ... with a loyal heart they had offered willingly ... and King David also rejoiced greatly.” When we give willingly, from the heart, we are able to rejoice in our giving. And when we do that, the One whose work it is rejoices as well.

By Larry Ondrejack