Giving at Its Best

Give cheerfully.

2 Corinthians 9:7: Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Deuteronomy 15:10a: Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart.

Exodus 25:2: Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.

Exodus 35:21: And everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.

1 Chronicles 29:9: The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly.

 

Give generously.

2 Samuel 24:24: But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them.

Proverbs 21:26b: But the righteous give without sparing.

Luke 21:4: All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.

 

Give with pure motives.

Matthew 6:1–3: Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

Luke 6:34–35: And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

1 Corinthians 13:3: If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 

Give according to ability.

Deuteronomy 16:17: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you.

Proverbs 3:27–28: Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. 28 Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,” when you have it with you.

Acts 11:29: The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.

1 Corinthians 16:2: On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

Galatians 6:10: Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

 

God blesses those who give.

Deuteronomy 15:10: Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.

Proverbs 22:9: The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.

Proverbs 28:27a: Those who give to the poor will lack nothing.

Ecclesiastes 11:1: Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return.

Mark 10:21: Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Luke 6:38: Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Acts 20:35b: In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

2 Corinthians 9:6b: Whoever sows generously will also reap generously