Calling the generous, and perhaps the stingy đ.
You may have noticed, as I have, giving is asked for literally everywhere! The grocery store, the gas station, the school, the thrift store, the clothing store, and the street corner. You are being asked by many to âround up to the nearest dollarâ, âdonate 5 dollars for the kids who canât get dental care,â âhelp fund the non-profit who stands against bullies,â and âbuy double school supplies for those who canât afford them.â The requests are plentiful and generally all for good causes.
So I wonder about you⊠How do you feel about this? How do you handle it? Do you mindlessly say yes? Say yes out of âI canât look stingy so I canât say no!â Say yes with really little to no regard about what is being asked? Say yes because it is after all your âduty as a Christian?â How do you approach these days
where giving opportunities are everywhere?
I think itâs easy to feel obligated. Easy to mindlessly say yes to pennies or even a couple dollars here and there. Easy to just âthrow some money at itâ – whatever and whoever that is. Yet, I canât help but think of the value of your gift. Does it have any? Are you just chucking money at whatever is in front of you? I applaud the generous, for sure! And I would scold the stingy, indeed. But wherever you fall in the balance of giving, I want to raise one more thought for you.
What if YOU valued your giving and even added to its value?
What if, instead of mindless giving, pointless throwing money at whoever asks, and feeling obligated to every little cause, you actually made a choice to be intentional with your giving?
Perhaps you could choose what really matters to you â the Gospel, the starving children, the homeless, the hungry. You could delineate what it is you WANT to give and, when you give, you add prayers and heart and hope and maybe even notesâŠ
2 Corinthians 9:7
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.
This verse is clear about intentionality. Give, WHAT YOU HAVE DECIDED IN YOUR HEART to give. What have you decided? What is important to you and your heart? If you choose, it helps you be cheerful about it! And attitude, after all, has everything to do with the way you receive ANYTHING!
If you give with intentionality, you will be cheerful, knowing that you are giving as YOU choose and to WHAT you choose. Plus, when you give with intention you can likewise choose the amount rather than pennies here and pennies there. Maybe you will continue to give that change here and there, but at least you can then be sure of where you give and why you give –knowing that you are giving with a focus and a joy. It also helps you say no to the frivolous asking here and there, because you know in your own heart you are not stingy, but rather have created a purposeful place to give.
FinallyâŠof course, as you are generous, more will come! I have seen this time and time again! Go read Proverbs 11:24-25 and Galatians 6:7. Thereâs always more, and more comes to you because you are the conduit! Personally, I love being a conduit in HIS hands! Go give my friends, just do it with purpose!
