Cheerful

Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation. But this I say:He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. - 2 Corinthians 9:5-7

It is amazing how much time Paul spends on the topic of Biblical giving and how wrongly we have gotten it (I realise 'gotten it' is not great English, but I like how it sounded here). However we put it, we need to sort out our attitude about giving. 

Paul deals with attitude. He reminds the Corinthians that they have promised a generous gift. He has already reminded them of how important it was to carry through on their promise. But then he teaches them about how they are supposed to give. 

'Give out of your generosity. Don't give grudgingly and just because you have to. If you give sparingly that is all you are going to receive. If you give bountifully that is how you are going to reap. Give what's in your heart. God loves a cheerful giver.' 

That doesn't mean what I once heard a preacher say. 'God loves a cheerful giver, but He'll take your money even if you are grumpy about it.' 

From what I have read so far I think the real principle is pretty simple. If you aren't going to give in abounding grace, if you are going to give grudgingly, if you can't give cheerfully, you might as well not give at all. 

It is obvious here that what really matters to God is the giving heart. Is it a drudgery, or is it a joy? Believe it or not. God doesn't need our money to do His work. He is not dependent on us to meet the needs of His children. But we don't give we miss out on the joy of having a part of God's giving. We miss out on the ultimate cheerfulness. 

For the believer 'give till hurts' is nonsense. For us, we should start giving cheerfully and keep giving with the joy that we are having a part in God's promise to care for His people!