Offering : By Faith and Love

In my fellowship with many seeking Christians who are still held up in the human system of organised denominations, one of the most challenging questions asked to me was the matter of offering. For in Christianity as a religion, "tithing" is one of the shameful and ugly way of spiritualising with biblical quotes mostly from Malachi 3 to get the "church income?" And today's degraded Christian workers have shamelessly exploited the word of God and many innocent believers, in the name of Christ, for money. Lord, deliver us from this evil one!

2 Corinthians 9:6,7

But take note of this: He who sows sparingly shall also sparingly reap; and he who sows with blessings shall also with reap; Each one as he has purposed in his heart, not out of sorrow or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Our offering to the Lord must be with a cheerful heart. In fact, every believers must acknowledge -

God as the source of all blessings : All that we are and have and will be having are all from God. So factually, nothing belongs to us, but all belongs to God. So our offering is not to God from us, but from God to God. With this simple revelation, one will always give cheerfully.

As much as the Lord prospers : Indeed, all blessings are from God. As much as the Lord blesses, we must offer. The more the blessings, the more the offerings should be; even otherwise, still we must offer as we purposed in our hearts. And in such offering will be joy.

Faith : However, all these must be done according to the faith within us. One should not go beyond the measure of faith in him. His offering must joyfully be in proportion to his faith. "...for all that is not out of faith is sin." Romans 14:23b

Love : Another divine principle in offering is "love." What one loves, he will pay any price for it. The higher the price, the deeper the love is proved. So much the more, our love for the Lord is directly proportional to the amount of offering we offer to God. For it will be paradoxical to claim to love someone and yet is not willing to pay any price for it. A true love will even pay the highest price of "death" for the sake of love. Therefore, when one loves the Lord, he will be offering out of love as much as He is blessed with by the Lord. It is not out of necessity nor any coercion involved, but out of a pure heart of love.

In summary, my fellowship to the brothers and sisters who asked me to fellowship on offering is "offering by faith and love." The more faith you have in God, the more you offer; and the more love you have for God, the more you offer. The divine principle to gauge a yardstick of offering is "faith and love;" faith in the Lord and love for the Lord. So, the conclusion is an offering formula: 

"Offering  (directly proportional to) Faith and Love"

Besides, with the above revelation and realization, we must be governed by the divine principle of a joyful giving law of life. And since we have faith in God and loves God, offering should be an innate reaction to what the Lord blesses us with. So once one receives a blessing, this law of life of offering must apply without further consideration. As you eat when your are hungry, or drink when thirsty, so offer in blessing!

This fellowship definitely helped all those with whom I fellowship with in regard to offering. Lord, increase my faith and love, and also my offering! As much as I grow in the divine life, so much the more may my offering increase.