And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. 2 Corinthians 8:10-12
“During the previous year the Corinthian Christians had been the first not only in giving but in desiring to give. So, now Paul urges them to finish the task they had begun, so that their doing will keep pace with their desiring. This must be according to their means. For Christian giving is proportionate giving. The eager willingness comes first; so long as that is there, the gift is acceptable in proportion to what the giver has.
This expression “according to your means” might remind us of two similar expressions which occur in Acts. In Acts 11:29, members of the church in Antioch gave to the famine-stricken Judean Christians “as each one was able.” In Acts 2 and 4, members of the church in Jerusalem gave “to anyone who had need” Acts 2:45; 4:35)…
Christian giving is proportionate giving. Of course there are times when we are called to give as the Macedonians gave, out of proportion to our income, as a sacrificial offering in particular circumstances. But the principle here is a foundational one. Christian giving should never be less than proportionate to our income.”
John R. W. Stott in The Grace of Giving in The Shortfall: Owning the Challenge of Ministry Funding by Christopher J. H Wright (Carlisle, UK: Langham Global Library, 2021) 37-38.
One of the leading hindrances to generosity in Africa and around the world is percentage giving. Those who teach that a percentage of a person’s income belongs to God and the rest belongs to them, actually send them to slavery because we become slaves to whatever we think we own.
Paul would say that promoters of the tithe both wrongly divide the word of truth and promote unacceptable giving. Alternatively, acceptable giving flows out of an eager heart that measures cheerful giving proportionately. Because all we possess is God’s, we give what we have.
There was not one but three tithes in the Old Testament law. They were designed to teach people to give to God, to care for each other, and to support the needy, the dispossessed, and people in ministry. They were designed as a base or a foundation and never designed to be a ceiling to limit giving.
That said, practically speaking, acceptable giving might appear as setting up automatic giving as a base. Then from there to have margin for Good Samaritan giving, that is, spontaneously aiding those in need that God puts in our path. It’s also wise to live on less than you make to have resources for new giving.
God is at work doing new things around us and invites us to put to work what we have to engage with Him. So, that our ‘doing’ can keep pace with our ‘desiring’ as the year ends, it’s a good time for each of us take inventory. We should also look around for new opportunities. As God has blessed us, let us resolve to put His resources to work.
Give proportionately with an eager heart.