The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me.”  (Exodus 25:1-2 ESV)

How we give is an indication of the condition of our hearts and how we relate to God.

While instructing Moses on how to provide the materials to build the Temple, the Lord indicated that it was not to be through taxation but a voluntary contribution. They were not to give because they had to give, but because they wanted to give from the heart. Matthew Henry, commenting on giving, said, “We should ask, not only, what must we do? But what may we do for God?”  Giving is a privilege.

Joyful giving always comes from a revelation of how good Christ has been to us. Our motivation to give should never be about what will happen if we don’t give, but a response for undeserved blessings we have already received from a gracious God. The Bible says that “we love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). God loved us first by giving His Son while we were yet in our sins. The only reasonable response is giving our means, time, and love back to him.

The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that we should never give under a reluctant compulsion. Everything that God does is about seeking a relationship with us. God does not want our money if our giving isn’t accomplishing this.

As the old song goes, “He paid a debt he did not owe, I owed a dept I could not pay. Christ Jesus paid the dept that I could never pay.”

If this song rings in our hearts, we will always be joyful givers.

I worked for seventeen years as a missionary with Youth With A Mission.  My missionary work has taken me to Mexico, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Spain, and Ukraine.  I hold a Masters of Education in curriculum and instruction from Virginia Commonwealth University.  [email protected]