“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 9:6-7).

God did not intend for born-again believers to be selfish. He also did not intend for us to give to manipulate or control others. He also did not want us to give to receive from the same person we gave to. He did not want us to give out of wanting a need met later.

When we give it should be free and without expectation. God does the increase. God does the watering for what we sow into others. This does not always have to be monetary. It can be time spent, praying for others, and being there for someone in crisis. When we give we are sowing a seed. God knows our motives when we give, even if we think we are giving purely, God examines that.

Giving to someone and then later counting the costs or feeling like they owe you something in return is wrong. Also, reminding someone of what you did and what it costs is wrong. In regards to giving time or other nonmonetary ways stop expecting a return from the recipient.

God blesses us with our giving the way He sees fit. A lot of times we are looking and expecting for our blessings to come the way we gave them or from who we gave. This is not true. God does the increase in many ways. He meets our needs in His timing. He does the measuring of the costs. That is His job, not ours.

“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly I say to you, they will have their reward. (Matthew 6:1-2).

We should give and do good to please God not men. We should do it as an act of glorifying God and allowing the person that receives our gift or deed to see the God in us. As born-again believers, everything we do should be to please God.

“But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand knows what your right hand is doing that your charitable deed may be in secret; and Your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly” (Matthew 6:3-4).

We do not have to sound an alarm and tell everybody what we do or did for someone. When we do that we did not do it from the heart. There are times when we can use our giving as a testimony. We do this to show others what God does when we give to encourage them and teach them. This builds the character of a person. This is good to do.

There are times when we give and we get hurt. When this happens we may feel anger and frustration and become bitter about what we did. That is a time to seek God. We should seek God so that we ensure we were supposed to do that and we were not doing it out of emotions. When you give to others it needs to be balanced. You need to be doing it with pure motives. When you don’t this is often where the offenses come from. When your motives are pure God will reward you. He does it in His timing, not ours.

Let us remember God loves a cheerful giver. Feel encouraged when you give and have a desire to bless someone. Start spending time with God as your desire to give comes and allow His wisdom to help you. God loves when we bless others and esteem others above ourselves (Philippians 2:3). We are to be the light of the world. The world needs our giving to bring others into the fold. Also to show them who God is. Give and when you do watch God move.