II Samuel 24:24 “And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”
Does Giving Hurt?
Do you think we should give?
Do you think we should give “until it hurts”?
The truth is, the only gift you have to give that pleases God includes yourself. We are not supposed to give “until it hurts”; we are to give until we give self. Isn’t it amazing how generous we feel when we are giving something that costs us nothing? It is a horse of a different color when we are required to give self!
II Corinthians 9:7 reminds us that “God loveth a cheerful giver.” It occurred to me this spring that the reason God loves a cheerful gives is because God is a cheerful Giver. The rest of chapter 9 doesn’t say anything about our giving, but it has much to say about God’s giving.
You don’t have any “thing,” any talent, or any ability that God did not give you to begin with. If you think that 10 percent is what you have to give, you have the wrong end of the funnel up! It is not a matter of how much of mine do I give God; it is a matter of how much of God’s do I keep for myself.
It is not painful to give; it is joyous. Change your focus from giving things to giving self. A person who has given self has nothing more to give and nothing more to withhold. No gift you give God, no matter how generous it seems, will please Him if it does not include you. God never expects less and never asks for more than that.