Cheerful Giving

S- "You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. "For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.." (2 Cor. 9:7)

O- When we give with generous hearts, God will produce good things from our giving. The key is when we give cheerfully, not out of obligation.

A- Especially right now in our current economic times, giving is a hard thing. Churches all over America are having financial problems, which produces a need based appeal to give. At the same time, the holidays are upon us where the feeling of helping others gets emphasized. We get this overbearing feeling of the need to give, yet when we read in the Bible about God's view of giving we see that giving should be cheerful and from the heart.

It's hard to decide what is giving out of pressure and what is cheerful. I believe when we give in order to see God's love shown to the world around us, that is cheerful as opposed to giving in order to keep up an impression to others.

P- God, I want to be a cheerful giver. Give me the courage to give when you want me to give and the ability to discern your voice in the midst of a pressured culture.

Posted by email from stevegold's posterous