Good morning, everyone, your friend MB here.

Feels like forever since I last wrote, but our Lord gave me something to ponder this morning. It’s commonplace when we sit in church to hear the phrase, “God loves a cheerful giver” when it comes time to give our tithes; because of this, most people think giving just means money, but I’ve learned in my brief time truly following Christ that isn’t true.

 Being a cheerful giver doesn’t just mean gleefully pouring the contents of your wallet into a collection plate, or dropping checks for the amount of half of your weekly earnings into the offering basket; being a cheerful giver means giving without reluctance, giving with joy from your finances, your time, your efforts, and prayers. It means giving everything you have to the advancement of God‘s kingdom here on earth.

Being a cheerful giver means understanding that everything you have was given to you by God anyway. Nothing that you have came from you. When you understand that, you see that everything you have can be shared with, or gifted to someone else.

 For example, let’s say you’ve gone out to a meal with your significant other; in my case, it would be my wife. If you live in a place where there are a lot of people who are disadvantaged, who are homeless, who are in need… As you pray, and give thanks for the food that God has given to you, also, pray about whether or not He wants you to share that bountiful blessing with someone less fortunate than you in that moment. Don’t ignore what He says, but instead embrace it and obey. 

Everything he says has a reason, if he tells you to buy an entire extra meal and give it to someone, do it. If he tells you to instead finish your meal and go buy a homeless person a blanket or an article of clothing to keep them warm, do it.

And don’t do it just because he told you to, but do it also because you want to help your fellow man. Do it also because it brings you joy to be used by God in such a way. Do it also because you’re thankful that you are in a position where you can be of help to someone. 

Gifts of a giver do not always have to be monetary. You can donate time as well which, as followers of Christ, we know is our most precious resource outside of God himself.

Our time is precious because it cannot be renewed or regained in any way.

So, in my opinion, one of the most gracious things, the most generous things a person can do is donate their time to someone less fortunate, or an organization that helps those less fortunate. 

Spend time at a local nursing home just talking with the residents. Some of them don’t have family that comes to see them. Some of them don’t have family at all. And most of them just want someone to talk to.

don’t want to do that?  Donate your time to a shelter or a soup kitchen. Help distribute blankets and pillows in the shelters, help serve soup, bread, and other food items in a soup kitchen. Volunteer at your local food bank; if your church has ways for you to volunteer and help your community, take advantage of those. They say charity or giving starts at home. I say it starts in the heart, and it doesn’t matter where you are.

 I believe that the phrase “God loves a cheerful giver” is somewhat misplaced when it’s talking about tithes; yes he loves it When you give him what he requires of you out of obedience, but something tells me he loves it even more when you go beyond that and also give to the world around you.

Doing so cheerfully shows gratitude for what you have. Doing so cheerfully shows love, not only for God, but for the people around you doing so cheerfully, and for what he does for us each and every day; everything he gives to us is not given begrudgingly, it is given out of love, it is given out of joy … just like everything we give should be. 

Is this meant to be a source of pride? Absolutely not. Why? Because as I said before… Nothing that God gives you came from you. Nothing that you have was given to you by anyone but God.

So, at the end of the day, yes, you made the decision to obey his whispers to your heart but what you give never belonged to you in the first place.

The joy and happiness should come, as I stated before, from being able to serve God in such a wonderful way that helps those less fortunate in your community.

MB