Giving Tuesday is a good idea, although I think the Tuesday before Thanksgiving might be a better day than the Tuesday after. There are many service organizations that need funds, and giving of our money is one way we can be of service. Whatever we make an hour, if we give that much in money, we have lain an hour of our life we can't get back on the altar as a gift offering, we have set aside our selfishness for another's benefit. We have poured ourselves out on behalf of someone in need. Sometimes going down to the local shelter or food bank and giving a helping hand may not be feasible for us, and they may have all the volunteers they need anyway, but they also need to have the food, pay the bills, etc. If the adults in my small Texas county would each give the $3.25 average cost of a single cup of coffee from Starbucks or Duncan Donuts once a month, my county would be giving nearly a hundred thousand dollars a month for an individual sacrifice that would hardly be noticed by those giving. We don't need to make some huge sacrifice to make a difference. Five dollars a month from enough people can keep a ministry or service group going.
If you missed Giving Tuesday, don't worry. You'll have plenty of chances to give before the year is up. This is the time of year when more groups and ministries ask for funds than you can shake a stick at. You can't go shopping without bells greeting you at the doors of the stores, almost every day there are letters in the mail with address labels or Christmas cards from different groups asking for help, and then there are emails and phone calls and.... Believe me, we'll all have the chance to give. And if we are followers of Christ, we know it's better to give than receive and Jesus gave everything He had for us. We know we need to give, to be of service, to care for the needy and help spread the truth of hope and God's love for us. That said, it can be so hard to do.
First, we're still selfish. One cup of coffee a month may help keep a ministry or service group afloat, but it is still a cup of coffee I have to do without. And there's the overload of choices. I can't give to everyone, not even a cup of coffee. If I give to one group, how do I say no to another? Sometimes not knowing the best place to give can cause us not to give at all. It's like not knowing where to start on cleaning a room causing us to sit down and do nothing. And then, of course, there are the ones we despise, who have abused the generosity of others. Service groups where 90% of the donations go into the pockets of a few people in the organization and preachers taking somebody's last few dollars telling them it's a command from God, or a way to gain God's gifts so that they can wear custom suits and live in million dollar mansions. It's sickening, and it's evil. But it's not an excuse for us to be selfish and refuse to give. There are things we can do to help us be of service financially with the right heart and without wasting our time. Remember that a gift of cash is a gift of time, unless you don't have to spend time to get your money.
Give thoughtfully, especially if that last reason people don't give burns you up. If you're giving enough to feel it as a sacrifice or giving regularly, it becomes critical to know who, what, where, why and how. If you can only afford to give a few dollars, you want that five dollars to go where it is most needed or will do the most good. Think about it, and pray about it. Don't give impulsively, If you're giving to be of service to God and others, then letting the Holy Spirit guide your giving is part of that. Check to see where the money is going. Charity Navigator is just one place you can check on different charities and causes and see where the best place to give would be. We have a tendency to plan or at least think out the important things in our life, and since giving is an important part of being of service to God and others, it should receive the same consideration and thought that any important purchase would receive. It's not about the amount but the purpose.
Give to serve and enthusiastically without expecting. Don't give to get praise. Don't give like your dollar is a spiritual lottery ticket. Don't give out of fear that if you don't God is going to get you, be mad at you, reject you or deny you His love and favor. Give because you realize that giving of ourselves is an expression of compassionate, serving love in action and a way to put the needs of others above our own desires as Jesus did when He gave up Himself to meet our needs. Jesus didn't go to the cross because He feared Daddy would be mad if He didn't, He did it for the anticipated joy of relationship with us that became possible because of His giving. We can rest assured that we can't out give God. When we give of ourselves as Jesus did, out of love, under the guidance of the Spirit, we become more like Jesus, and remembering that being of maximum service to Daddy and others is our true primary purpose brings us closer to Him. Giving a dollar may not mean that paying your bills gets any easier, and it certainly doesn't mean that you'll get ten back from God. It's not a spiritual pyramid scheme. But there are spiritual blessings that come from denying self, whether that giving is spending an hour listening with compassion to someone who is hurting, or helping someone get to and from the store or a meeting who has no transportation, or giving a dollar or any other way we can give of ourselves for the benefit of someone else.
Give cheerfully and voluntarily. The Lord loves a cheerful giver. That doesn't mean that if we don't give or don't give cheerfully He won't love us. He loves us as we are, not as we should be. He loved us while we were ruled by self and sinners. So it's not about earning His love. It's just that it makes Him happy when we give for the joy of helping someone else. He loves that. It likes the joy any Daddy has when his child does something good the way he does it. If someone or a group is pressuring you to give or trying to make giving a condition of being helped and loved by God, don't give to them. If you can't have time to think it over and pray about it, then say no, but don't use thinking and praying as an excuse to put it off until it's never done. Give because you want to and because it's right, not because someone makes you afraid or shames you if you don't. But if the Holy Spirit challenges you to give, give, even if you can't do it cheerfully. It is better to surrender our will to His in obedience than to want it. For the joy to come, Jesus went to the cross, but that's not the feeling He had in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the garden, He wanted an out, any other way. It was after He said not My will but Yours be done that He rose up, powered by the Spirit to obey and make the sacrifice that the joy came, even as the giving hurt enough to kill Him. Sometimes our joy and cheerfulness won't come until after the cross of denying ourselves and doing what the Spirit has put on our heart. Don't wait to be cheerful to give if the Spirit puts giving on your heart, but when you can give cheerfully, without expecting or demanding praise or return, it is an act of unselfishness that brings even more joy and makes us that much more like Jesus, regardless of the form of giving, time, skills, material things, or money.
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