Therefore openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you. 2 Corinthians 8:24
“In God there is no hunger that needs to be filled, only plenteousness that desires to give… God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that He may love and perfect them.”
C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1960) 175-176.
God gives love because He is love. Giving flows out of who He is. The same is true with us. As we receive God’s love and as He perfects us, giving flows from who we are.
God needs nothing from us. We need to give. When we do, we become who we already are in Him and reflect His love to the world. If this sounds confusing, hang with me.
Too much of giving is based on ‘needs’ in a backwards way. Most ministry communications sound like God’s workers have a deficiency because people are not supplying.
What’s wrong with this picture? Everything. God is the Supplier and His work never lacks. Messages should call God’s people to ask God to supply and to participate as God leads.
The idea of ‘needs’ should be directed heavenward, because as Lewis states, “In God there is no hunger that needs to be filled, only plenteousness that desires to give.”
Our plenteous God wants us, as superfluous creatures, to bring every need to Him. As we receive His love, our giving and participation is the proof that He is perfecting us.