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The late Larry Burkett told about a preacher friend who did something that is not recommended for preachers who value their jobs - he took up the offering himself. As the preacher carried the plate around the room, he watched what people put in and, if they put in a sealed envelope, he opened the envelope and looked at the amount inside. The following Sunday, to a congregation seething with anger, the preacher said, "Many of you are angry that I looked in your offering envelopes last week. Has it ever occurred to you to consider what God thinks when he looks in there?"
Brett Blair told about another preacher who met the servers as they carried the offering plates forward one Sunday. Lifting the plates toward Heaven, the preacher prayed, "Lord, regardless of what we say about you, this is what we really think about you. Amen."
Both preachers went too far, but they were both right: Our giving really does reveal what we think of God. I shared that thought in a sermon years ago and an angry woman approached me after the service. "I love God," she said, "but I don't think my giving reveals anything about what I feel down deep inside." Sorry, lady, I wasn't the one who came up with that principle; it comes from the Bible! Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Luke 12:34, NIV). Our giving really does reflect our attitude toward Jesus. And the Apostle Paul, talking about an offering he was gathering to help folks in need, told the Corinthian Christians, "I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others" (2 Corinthians 8:8). Generosity isn't measured by the numbers on the check, it's measured by the love that writes that check.
That concept is illustrated perfectly by a widow woman who put her offering into the Temple treasury. Jesus saw her tiny gift that day (She put in about 1/64 of a day's income, or what the average worker might earn in about 7 minutes of labor.), and he also saw the gifts of others who gave much larger amounts. Later, Jesus told His disciples: "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." The widows gift demonstrated both faith and love. She trusted God to provide for her, even though she had dropped her last coins into the plate. And she considered that sacrifice not to be a sacrifice at all - just a gift to the God she loved.
Americans don't measure up to her spiritual stature. Shelton Cole reported in The Herald of the Covenant that if every American Christian lost their job, lived on public assistance and tithed (a tithe is 10% of one's income), giving to churches would immediately increase by 30%. Americans might be greatly blessed, but we're pretty stingy when it comes to giving back to God.
Contrast that with Israel's King David, who considered it a privilege to give to God. In preparation for the building of the Temple, David gave a huge gift (about $3.7 billion in today's dollars) to the project from his own wealth, and then challenged the citizens of Israel to demonstrate their own love for God by giving generously. They did, and the resulting gold-clad Temple they built was considered to be one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. David recognized, however, that Israel wasn't really giving to God as much as they were simply letting go of what God had already given to them. 1 Chronicles 29:14 reads, "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand."
One has, of course, an alternative to generous living; one can selfishly hoard everything for oneself. That path, however, doesn't end well. Did you ever see a hearse pulling a U-Haul with all the deceased possessions? Spiritually, holding back is a disaster. Malachi 3:8 reads, "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings." Robbing God? Good luck with that.