Love Gives
“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.”
2 Corinthians 9:7 (NIV)
Love always gives something of itself. That is not a nice thought; it is the shape of the gospel.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). Love and giving are joined in that sentence and they are never separated afterwards. Jesus loved us, so He gave His life. Paul says the Son of God “loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Wherever real love exists in Scripture, something costly changes hands.
So when the love of God begins to grow in a person, generosity grows with it. Not as an add-on. As evidence.
Paul writes, “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.”
Look at what that verse rules out.
It rules out reluctance, the gift given while resenting it. It rules out compulsion, the gift extracted by pressure, guilt or manipulation. And, worth noting, it rules out thoughtlessness too, because Paul says “decided in your heart.” Generosity here is deliberate, planned and personal, not a spasm of emotion when someone tells a moving story.
The word behind “cheerful” is hilaros, the root of our word hilarious. God loves a giver who is glad about it.
Now, why would giving be glad rather than grim? Because of what the giver understands about their own situation. Look at the wider context in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Paul motivates generosity in two ways, and neither is guilt. First, the example of Jesus: “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (8:9). Second, the sufficiency of God: “God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (9:8).
That is the engine. I can give freely because I have received immeasurably, and because my supply does not depend on my hoarding.
Notice that the Macedonian churches Paul praises in chapter 8 were in “extreme poverty,” and they gave “beyond their ability,” and they “urgently pleaded” for the privilege of doing it. Generosity is not a function of surplus. It is a function of the heart.
And giving is not only about money, though let us not spiritualise money away, because Scripture certainly does not. You can also give your time, which for many people is scarcer than cash. Your attention, which in a distracted age may be the rarest gift of all. Your encouragement. Your skills. Your home and hospitality. Your prayers, which cost more than we admit if we actually pray them.
Sometimes the most valuable thing you can give someone is your undivided attention for twenty minutes with your phone face down.
Now let me guard this clearly, because this text is one of the most misused in the church.
2 Corinthians 9 is not a promise that giving is an investment scheme. Verse 6 speaks of sowing and reaping generously, and some have twisted this into a guarantee that if you give money you will receive more money back, usually to the person doing the teaching. Read verse 8 carefully: God blesses you “so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” The stated purpose of God’s provision is not your accumulation. It is your capacity to keep giving. God supplies seed to the sower, and seed exists to be sown.
Nor is giving a way of buying God’s favour or purchasing an answer to prayer. That is closer to paganism than Christianity. You cannot bribe your Father. Your standing with Him was settled at the cross, and it cost you nothing because it cost Christ everything.
And giving under compulsion, whether from a manipulative appeal or from your own guilt, is exactly what Paul excludes. If you cannot give it cheerfully and freely, examine it before you give it.
What God is after is a heart that trusts Him as its source. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Note the order. Most of us assume the heart leads and the wallet follows. Jesus says the opposite is also true: move your treasure and your heart follows it. That is why giving is one of the most effective ways to loosen the grip of money on a soul.
What you have may feel small. Love gives it value. Five loaves and two fish in the hands of a boy was an inadequate lunch; in the hands of Jesus it fed a multitude. A simple meal, a phone call, a small act of kindness may mean far more than you will ever know.
So ask God today: who can I bless, and what have You already placed in my hands? Then do not delay when the answer comes, because delayed generosity usually becomes forgotten generosity.
Open your heart and open your hand. What God has placed in your life is not only for you. Become a cheerful channel of His blessing.
Prayer
Father, You loved and so You gave, and You did not spare Your own Son. Everything I have came from Your hand in the first place. Loosen my grip. Save me from giving out of guilt or pressure, and save me equally from giving nothing at all. Make me a cheerful giver, deliberate and glad. Show me today who I can bless, and with what. And keep me trusting You as my source rather than trusting what I have managed to hold on to. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Declaration
God has made me a channel, not a reservoir. I give cheerfully because I have received immeasurably.
Pastor Ras
All Nations Community Church
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