Is there an obligation for Christians to give? Only if you want to be conformed to the image of God. In 2 Corinthians 9 the Apostle Paul speaks of giving as an act rooted in God’s abundant provision. “God loves a cheerful giver,” not because the church has bills to pay but because giving itself is part of God’s redemptive work in the world. Every contribution and every act of generosity is a seed sown, and God, who “supplies seed to the sower,” multiplies these gifts for His purposes.
In your theology of giving, providing “financial support” isn’t the main thought; it’s about participating in God’s ongoing work of grace. It’s not guilt that compels us to generosity but the overflow of gratitude for God’s immeasurable grace poured into our lives.
I challenge you to participate with the grace of God through sacrificial offering. As we make our gifts, as we choose to eschew certain luxuries to increase our sacrificial offering, we will trust God to provide for our needs—after all, He’s using our gifts to care for others. In this way we are becoming instruments of God’s grace in the world.
Maranatha, Jordy
