Abound in the grace of giving

But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us— see that you abound in this grace also. - 2 Corinthians 8:7

Paul speaks of abundant living. He speaks of an abundance of faith and speech and diligence and love. He commends the Corinthians for all of that. 

But he goes on to say that they are missing a grace that they should not be missing. The context here is giving and he says 'see that you abound in this grace as well.' 

Giving as a grace is not something we often talk about. Too often giving is presented as an obligation or a standard or a requirement. We preach about a tithe with the idea that if a believer tithes they have done their giving duty. Some Christians even give because they feel like they are put on a guilt trip. we talk about the importance of cheerful giving, but we impose it by guilt. 

Here though, Paul uses an entirely different approach. He talks about the grace of giving. 

How often do we look at giving as a grace instead of a burden? When we do give, especially when we give to meet a need, this grace is obvious. We see the joy of the results of our giving. 

I think we lose out on the grace of giving when we see our giving going to the wrong kinds of stuff. We lose that grace when we see it used to expand materialism in the church. When we give to benefit ourselves we are not really giving so it is not longer grace. 

Why don't we see giving as a grace like all the other things described above? I don't know. I guess it just takes a step of faith to see giving as a grace. Faith and grace go hand in hand. Let's exercise the faith to abound in the grace of giving.