A PORTRAIT OF A BIBLICAL GIVER

The mission of Hosanna’s Stewardship Team is to help people grow in their relationship with Jesus through the use of the time, talents and finances God has entrusted to them. One way to grow is to lift up the characteristics, or values, of a giver that are mentioned in the Bible so that each of us can use these as a model on which to base our own personal stewardship.

Value # 1: Intentional To be intentional in one’s giving means developing a plan for your giving and then following through with that plan.
“Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion.” (2 Corinthians 9:7a)

Value # 2: Regular To be regular in your giving means establishing a pattern for giving, and then following that pattern.
“On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come.” (1 Corinthians 16:2)

Value # 3: Generous To give away money generously is the most successful way to deal with the threat of money and possessions. The most effective way to break the power of money is to give it away.
“And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)

Value # 4: First To give first means giving to God first, and then living off the rest. The opposite is taking care of the needs and wants of this life first, and giving God the leftovers.
“When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.” (Deuteronomy 26:1-2)

Value # 5: Proportional To give proportionally is to give in proportion to the blessings you have received. Both those who have much wealth and those who have little wealth are expected to give a percentage of what they have.
“Celebrate the Harvest Festival, to honor the Lord your God, by bringing him a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing he has given you.” (Deuteronomy 16: 10)

Value # 6: Cheerful The key to giving cheerfully is to practice the first five values of a Biblical giver. Cheerfulness will follow naturally.
“God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7b)

Giving intentionally, regularly, generously, first, proportionally, and cheerfully will lead a giver’s heart to Jesus. The Hosanna Stewardship Team has the privilege of asking, “How can we help you become the kind of giver who lives these values, so that your heart might be drawn closer to Jesus?”



The notes above are based on Chapter 4 of “Ask, Thank, and Tell” by Charles Lane (Augsburg Fortress, 2006).