God Sees

DEVOTION

2 CORINTHIANS

GOD SEES

2 Cor 9:6-9

6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."   

NIV

The key words here are “not reluctantly of under compulsion”. There such not be any pressure from anyone about this giving. That is not to say someone could not bring a need to the attention of all others, such as in the case when a pastor presents a need to the congregation. But when those people on television show us pictures of starving little children and tell us they will die unless we send them so much a month to support this little one that is under compulsion. They are putting as much visual pressure on us, trying so hard to tug at our hearts. The question is how much of our money goes to support them, their lifestyle, and their television ads asking for money and how much is given to toward that child? We have turned what God intended to be something wonderful into something perverse. Yes we are to give and not be stingy in our giving. Sure we should give according to what we have. That is we should not try to give beyond our ability to give. But we should still give, and do it with a cheerful heart, knowing this is how God intended us to give. He has blessed us with what we have and we should be willing to share with others. Perhaps that is how he intends to bless them. If we are stingy or give sparingly then we can expect very little back. If we give generously we can expect a lot back. But is that a good reason to give? Roberts wrote a whole book about this seed faith kind of giving and made big bucks doing it. We could wonder if he gave all the profits away cheerfully. It appears we should just give and do it with a cheerful heart just because God intended it to be that way, not for any return, not for any blessing, not for any recognition, not for any other reason other than because God intended it to be. This getting a record of giving for tax purposes is just another perversion. If we think for one moment that no one knows how much we give, forget it. Someone or a group is counting it all, marking it down, and making a record of each individual’s amount. Someone is recording it in some computer and printing it out every quarter to let us know how we are doing. This is not anywhere close to what God said about not letting your right hand know what your left hand is doing in regard to out giving. It might be good for us to get back to the basics. Give when a need it seen, and give generously toward that need, doing it and do it cheerfully from our hearts as we are inspired by the Spirit and by the Spirit alone. And do it anonymously, God sees.