Be a Cheerful Giver

Today I am going to talk about Giving to God through Tithes and Offering. How it can effect you and effect the church. I will try to overcome some obstacles that we all have to giving that we all may have or that we all may face.Our Bible verse today comes from 2Co 9:7-8 ESV  Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, 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 having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Why do you give to the church or others?
Or
Why don't you Give?

I know we all have intent to give our Tithes to the church at the 10%  we have been taught but sometimes we fall short of that amount. Sometime that is out of fear. We think if I give 10% I won't have money for gas at the end of the week. Sometimes we don’t give out of greed. We say “If I give 10% I won't be able to get that new something I want.

Mal 3:8-10 ERV  "People should not steal things from God, but you stole things from me. "You say, 'What did we steal from you?' "You should have given me one-tenth of your things. You should have given me special gifts.  (9)  In this way your whole nation has stolen things from me, so bad things are happening to you."  (10)  The LORD All-Powerful says, "Try this test. Bring one-tenth of your things to me. Put them in the treasury. Bring food to my house. Test me! If you do these things, I will surely bless you. Good things will come to you like rain falling from the sky. You will have more than enough of everything.

God was speaking to the people of Israel. He said “Test me” If you give 10% Like I ask you will be blessed. We must have faith that God knows the problems we face and would not let us suffer by giving to the church. God does not want us to give because we feel we must give or we are not a good Christian or because the pastor is making you feel every time he talks about how the church needs your tithes and offerings.Each of us must decide in our hearts how much we give. We must be cheerful givers. God does not want us going home worried about if you gave too much, or if you are going to be able to pay a bill.

I know there are times in our life where we find that we feel that we cannot give without putting extreme hardship on our family. So what do we do during these times. We should go to our Pastor explain what is going on in your life and seek his guidance and through fasting and prayer God will provide an answer.
We are all human and all are not perfect we should look at not paying tithes like not paying a bill. We do not just ignore the fact that we don’t have the money to pay our mortgage. We call the bank and try to make arrangements to make it up. The church does plan its budget according to how much they receive in tithing.
We should keep this in mind when there are changes to our income that effects how much we are able to give for tithing whether it is an increase or decrease.