The heart of giving: The right and wrong ways to give

As Christians, we believe strongly in worship and that can be done in many ways some of us may not necessarily regard as a sign of worship.

However, the true meaning of worship is not just by praying and singing along to praise & worship to the Lord, or even by wearing your best garment and going to church every Sunday.

Worship also includes giving unto the Lord. Just as Proverbs 3:9 says, an example of this could be by ‘giving the first fruits’ from our income onto God. So this could be by giving part of your salary or setting a day aside from your ‘busy’ schedule to clean the church.

There are many ways this can be done, but it is important to do so willingly so that God sees that the generosity is coming from your heart.

In the Bible, 2 Corinthians 9: 6-7 emphasizes the importance of being a cheerful giver. The importance of this is to show that you are happy about giving, you are doing so because you genuinely want to and not because you feel that you have to.

Or because you have in your head that “others are doing it, so I might as well.” God sees our hearts and when he sees that we are giving with no doubts or second thoughts, or even in the hope of gaining a reward, we will surely be blessed to reap from it bountifully.

This means, that we as Christians need to see the importance of giving and do so willingly, let us not see it as a chore or as a way to show off to show people at church you are rich. Because when we pay our tithes or give thanks offering to the Lord it should be kept between yourself and the Lord.
Just as Matthew 6: 1-4 says. In verses, 3-4 God said: “But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”

This explains that we should not do it as a way to look big in front of people, but instead, give knowing that you are doing it for God and not for man. It shouldn’t be in a way that we are expecting an outcome from it, like thinking “Oh maybe if I pay my tithes, God will bless me so I can buy that LV bag I’ve had in my basket for a while” for example, but it should be done to meet the requirements of God.