Joyous Giving
by Linden Wolfe
Ever used a calculator to determine what tithe amount you "owe" based upon ten percent of your take home pay or monthly salary? Ever hesitated when a church need presented itself that would cause you to go above that ten percent threshold? Have you ever rationalized your tithing as a means of lowering your taxes, perhaps even hesitating to give to a situation that wouldn’t work as a tax write it off? I know I have, and I imagine most believers have too.
Despite the theological debate surrounding the issue, giving really is a blessing to those who do it (Acts 20:35). With that fact in mind, I’d like to suggest that the struggle to give cheerfully and freely is actually a heart issue. God began to deal with me on this topic by gradually enlightening me to the compulsory and obligatory nature of my giving. Actually, at that point in my life I wasn’t giving: I was tithing. I saw giving the Lord the first ten percent of every pay check a legalistic duty or spiritual standard. I didn’t enjoy it; in fact, I resented it. I dutifully calculated the amount each week before slowly writing a check to the church. When I reticently dropped it in the offing plate, I felt nothing. I didn’t even have the satisfaction of feeling "righteous" in my "obedience."
Looking back, I realize that my irritation over the tithe came down to two facts: (1) I loved money, and (2) I sought to hoard it as a form of (false) security. The truth is that I didn’t love my God enough to cheerfully give back what He had given me. In those days I tithed―not out of overflowing love—but in an attempt to appease my joyless and empty sense of obligation. No sacrificial satisfaction came in the process, and I found very little reduction of that nagging guilt that accompanied the forced activity. I became burdened over the hollowness of my tithing and confessed to God my insincerity.
Over the next months I began to seek God as my Provider, asking Him to move me from being a mundane tither to a joyful giver. In response to my prayers, He drove me to Second Corinthians 8:1-5:
"We want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will."
I was captivated by the attitude of these impoverished Macedonian Christians as recorded by Paul. Look at the phrases used to capture the attitude behind their sacrificial offerings: overflowing joy, rich generosity, beyond their ability, entirely on their own, privilege of sharing, in service to the saints, and in keeping with God’s will. When I realized that the poverty-stricken saints of the early church were so inclined to give to the Lord and His work that they saw it as a privilege, I was moved to shun calculations and gaze on Calvary. When I did, I was emboldened to forsake obligatory tithing and to embrace happy, love saturated, and sacrificial giving.
Over the next months, the Lord helped me develop a giving model. It may be effective for you as well:
I believe that out-of-the-heart giving often exceeds the ten percent Old Testament standard that we so often hear about from the institutional church. The Lord wants us to live and give out of "the abundance of [our] hearts" (Luke 6:45). When we pursue sacrificial and joyful giving we embrace Christ’s example. The more we become like Him the more satisfied we are in Him. God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).
