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Gratitude and Generosity - Biblical

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Written by Ángel Manuel Rodríguez

Why should I give offerings?

This is probably the best answer to your question: God’s will is for
us to bring to Him our offerings; and His will always procures what
is best for us (Deut. 16:16). The Lord expects us to bring Him not
only our tithe but also our offerings (Mal. 3:8). You may wonder
why these are required from us. Here are a few thoughts about the
theological foundation for offerings, our motivation for giving, and
the nature of a true offering.

1. Theological Foundation: I see two main theological foundations

for the practice of giving offerings to God. The first is related to
salvation. In the Bible, offerings are often associated with the idea
that God is our Savior. This is extremely important in a theology of
stewardship; it clearly excludes the idea that our offerings
contribute to our salvation. Yes, an offering saved us, but it was
one provided by God, not by us. This concept was illustrated in the

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Old Testament sanctuary services through the sin and guilt

offerings (Lev. 4, 5; 17:11). These offerings pointed to the sacrifice
of the Servant of the Lord, who would bear our sins to cleanse us
from them (Isa. 53:4, 5, 10-12). This was fulfilled in the person of
Jesus Christ, whom God offered as a sacrifice in our place (John
3:16; Rom. 3:25). Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, making it
possible for God to accept our personal offerings in response to
His grace.

The second theological foundation is the lordship of God. The one

who saved us is to be acknowledged as our Lord, otherwise we
would remain enslaved to sin. He liberated us to His loving
service. We honor and show respect to Him, as our Lord, through
our offerings in the same way that people of importance are
honored through gifts (Mal. 1:6-8). According to the Old Testament
view of end-times, the kings of the earth will recognize the lordship
of the God of Israel and will bring Him offerings/gifts (Isa. 18:7; Ps.
68:29).

2. Motivation for Giving: The most fundamental motivation for

giving offerings is gratitude for what God has done for us through
Jesus Christ. Ingratitude flows from selfishness and engenders
idolatry (Rom. 1:21). We are grateful because of God’s abundant
grace. In fact, the cosmos is home to more grace than evil: “Where
sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Rom. 5:20, NIV).
This abundance comes from Jesus Christ, who, although rich,
became poor to enrich us (2 Cor. 8:9). Gratitude and love to God
take a concrete form in our offerings, and God uses them to reach
others with the message of salvation. In other words, our offerings
are the embodiment of our gratitude and commitment to God in a
tangible way that is transferred to supply others’ needs.

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3. God’s Purpose for Us: Our offerings are given to God through
His church, not to anybody claiming to be God’s instrument. He
requires them from us to protect us from idolatry and to assist us in
overcoming our natural selfishness. We can hide our selfishness in
words, but it could easily show its ugly face in our resistance to
give our offerings to God liberally. Human ego becomes
particularly visible in our thirst for material wealth, and the way we
administer it. God helps us overcome this enslaving power by
asking for our tithe and offerings as a response to His grace and
love. In the process, He transforms us into loving creatures.
Consequently He expects our gifts to be a self-offering (Luke
21:1-4; 2 Cor. 8:5), voluntary (Ex. 25:1; 2 Cor. 9:7), and systematic
(2 Cor. 8:11). Systematic means that we give according to our
means, that we assign a specific percentage of our earnings as
offerings. We do not give because there are needs; we give
because God has been good to us and we want to express our
love and gratitude to Him unselfishly.

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