How can I become a more cheerful giver?

But the giving to be really pleasing to God must be cheerful giving. If done grudgingly, or because one is pushed into it, there is not much value in it in the sight of God. Every man will purpose in his heart according to the state of his heart. If our hearts are right, and enlarged by dwelling in the love of God, we shall give not only bountifully but cheerfully also. We shall give after the style of God Himself; and God loves those who are like Himself.

And each is called upon to purpose in his own heart as to the amount he gives. If Paul presses upon them to give from a right and godly motive, willingly; yet absolutely no pressure must be used in reference to the amount given. What one can give totally ungrudgingly, let him give, not because he feels it incumbent, but rejoicingly. For God loves a cheerful giver. Indeed, this is God's own character.

If it be asked what the proportion should be, the answer is, "Every man as he hath purposed in his heart." (2 Cor. 9:7.) Nothing can be laid down, but it will be found that the pleasure and luxury of giving increases with the giving, and, as again and again we wait on the Lord about the matter, which we are bound to do under these conditions, we long to give more and more; so that we have heard of a case where one who began by giving a tenth ended by giving nine-tenths.

Thank God none are excluded from this. Every Christian is naturally a giver; rich and poor are alike to give, all will covet to give. None will say, "We are told that Christians are to give, why do they not give to me?" but rather the very poorest will not fail to claim his right to deny himself, and to give to the Lord, as was the case with them of Macedonia. How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality … this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God." (2 Cor. 8:2-5.)

It is well to think on this on every occasion in the which we are called to contribute to the Lord's cause. Well to remember, as the box or the basket is placed in my hand, that “Jesus is sitting over against the treasury.” His holy eye rests, not upon the purse, but upon the heart. He weighs not the amount, but the motive. If the heart is right, the amount will be right, according to His judgment. Where the heart beats to His Person, the hand will be open to His cause. All who really love Christ will count it their high and happy privilege to deny themselves in order to contribute to His cause. It is most marvelous that He should condescend to ask us so to do. Yet He does so and it should be our deep joy to respond “according as God has prospered us,” ever remembering that He loves a cheerful giver because that is precisely what He is Himself, blessed be His holy Name!

It is well to think on this, on every occasion in the which we are called to contribute to the Lord’s cause. Well to remember, as the box or the basket is placed in my hand, that ‘Jesus is sitting over against the treasury’. His holy eye rests, not upon the purse, but upon the heart. He weighs, not the amount, but the motive. If the heart be right, the amount will be right, according to His judgment. Where the heart beats true to His person, the hand will be open to His cause; of this we may rest assured. All who really love Christ will count it their high and happy privilege to deny themselves in order to contribute to His cause. No doubt, it is most marvellous that He should condescend to ask us so to do. Yet He does so, and it should be our deep and ineffable joy to respond according as God has prospered us (1 Cor. 16:2), ever remembering that He loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7), because that is precisely what He is Himself — blessed be His holy name!

And what was the secret of this outburst of generous giving, of their considering it a privilege to care for their needy brethren? The secret was that, before they gave of their money and kind, they first gave themselves to the Lord. When they gave themselves to the Lord everything else went with this consecration of themselves.

This, without a doubt, is the only true way to look at this matter of giving. God does not merely claim our superfluity but all that we have, because He claims us. When we see this, we at once become conscious how far our standard of giving falls below the standard set by the Macedonians. They were characterized by a liberality that was enhanced by their deep poverty and the fact that they were in the midst of a time of much affliction. What moved them to their liberality was the abundance of their spiritual joy. They had by faith so real and joyous a grasp of the things of heaven, that they could afford to be liberal with the things of earth.

Christian giving is something that has to come from the heart before it can have real value before God. If there is not a ‘willing mind' (2 Cor. 8:12 ), then the giving is just a legal thing. Practical Christianity is not a matter of keeping rules and regulations. It is the answer of our love to Him that reflects itself in every area and aspect of our life. We love because He first loved us, and we give (ourselves and from our substance) because He first gave to us (Himself and all kinds of blessings).

Verse 7. "Every man according as he purposes in his heart," etc. If liberality be, when contemplated on its lower side, sound policy, there is a higher motive which should regulate the duties of God's saints. Let love be without dissimulation (Rom. 12:9), and the act of charity express faithfully the purpose of the heart. Neither sorrow nor constraint must here have any place, for God is the centre and ultimate aim of all true kindness. As He has given, let each true child of His bestow. Let giving be regarded by believers not as a necessity, but as a privilege. For giving is God's own delight; we know Him solely by His gift unspeakable, and His heart is toward them always who imitate Him in His ways. In a dispensation of pure grace, none are obliged to give, save by the sweet compulsion of His love. There are no task-masters in the house of God. But each child of His has his allotted opportunities of proving, by the use he makes of them, both whose he is, and by what manner of spirit he is led.

Verse 8. "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you," etc. They are not called upon to make an unremunerative sacrifice. He, for whose sake they are giving of their present store, is not unrighteous to forget any work of loving-kindness to His saints (Heb. 6:10), and He is able to requite abundantly the blessings rendered in His Name. If, for the love of Christ, they drew out their souls to His afflicted brethren, and satisfied His hungering poor with bread, He knew how to enrich them tenfold, both in this world and the next. His grace, which they had tasted, and in which they stood, should be the full supply of all their need. Their good desires should enlarge with their good practice, and His gracious provision should surpass their utmost wish.

Again he exhorts them to liberality in giving. He knew their willing mind and had boasted of it to them in Macedonia and told them they were ready a year ago. This had stimulated many. He hoped that they would measure up to this report and fall not behind in this expectation "lest our boasting should be in vain in this behalf." To encourage them in giving and carrying out what they had purposed, he speaks of the blessing: "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully." There is, then, blessing according to faithfulness in this ministry; as any other faithful ministry is not forgotten of God. Giving must not be grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. God Himself delights to give. In infinite love He gave His only begotten Son, and He delights in all who imitate Him in His ways. There is no compulsion in giving save the constraint of His love.