“Giving is not for God’s benefit, but for our own…God knows that the only way to make His people like Himself is to develop in them His own unselfishness. With marvelous patience, therefore, he waits until we, too, learn to give. It is for this reason that he gives so important a place to stewardship as the primary process of transforming [people] into His likeness…
In this process, giving is made an acid test of character. Of all the grace, giving is that which is likest God within the soul. How is it possible to be truly godlike without learning to give like God who is always giving? What better evidence could there be of genuine Christlike living than that of generous godlike giving?
…In bringing up his human family, knowing so well what is in man, the Father has provided, in the grace of giving, a divine antidote for human selfishness. Only the spirit of God can eradicate this root sin and make to grow in human hearts the love which buds into beneficence. This takes time.”
David McConaughy, Money the Acid Test (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1919) 94-96.