Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (NIV)

Do you ever have those moments when you completely understand your parents because now you are the adult? As a child I didn’t understand why my dad would get so upset about the dishes not being done, until I was standing in the kitchen trying to cook dinner and nothing I needed to use had been cleaned. The dishes were supposed to be done by my younger sister and me, but so often we just failed to do them. I now find myself in the same situation with my kids.  I can yell and nag and beg and eventually get one or more children to begrudgingly help me. We’ve even assigned one kid each month so there’s less arguing about whose turn it is (Free parenting tip in today’s devo 😊).  

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But you know what’s amazing and fills my heart with love and joy? When a child of mine says, “Mom, do you need help with the dishes?’ Or, even better, without even asking they see that the counters are covered in dirty dishes, and they load them into the dishwasher. The dirty dishes can get clean in both scenarios, but in one case, the heart of the helper is begrudging and in the other the heart has a posture of service and sacrifice to help our family.

In our passage today Paul is writing to the people in the church at Corinth about generosity. He had heard they were a generous group and was encouraging them to follow through on their promise to give a generous gift (v. 5). He uses the analogy of a farmer planting a lot or a little and how those two actions yield proportional results. But Paul doesn’t want the believers to feel pressured to give or forced to do so. He says in contrast to those types of givers that “God loves a cheerful giver.”  

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Now, this doesn’t mean that God won’t love you if you don’t happily tithe to your church and give money to the homeless man on the street. God’s love is not conditional that way. What I think Paul is saying is that God is pleased with the giver whose heart is in the right place. The word used for cheerful can also be translated as “prompt”, “joyous” or “willing”.  Like my children with their chore of doing the dishes, heart posture matters. Yes, the job still gets done even if they complain the whole time or put off doing it until the last hour of the day. But there is a maturity and generosity of spirit that’s evident when they do their chore with a happy heart.

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I’m overjoyed when my children serve willingly, and I believe that’s how our heavenly Father feels when we give to the mission of the church. Not because we feel like it’s required to check a box or because we feel pressured to do so. God sees not only our outward behavior, but our internal motivation, as well, and God is pleased when our motivations align with his motivations: to selflessly serve and love others well.

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How can you align your heart with God’s heart this week as you give of your time, talents and treasures? Where might you sow more generously to see a bountiful harvest? We can always pray that God would change our hearts if we know they are not quite “cheerful” in the giving department yet.

Generous and loving Father, I acknowledge today that all good gifts and blessings are from you and are meant to be used for your glory. I confess that I hold some things with a closed fist, afraid I don’t have enough or greedily wanting even more than what you’ve already given. Help me to sow generously with my time and resources so that I may see how you want to multiply what you’ve entrusted to my care. God, please give me a spirit of cheerfulness as I serve and give to see your Kingdom come. In Jesus’ name, Amen.