Sometimes, giving comes from a quiet sense of obligation. “I have to.” It’s the responsible thing, the expected thing, the box to check so we can feel we’ve done our part.
At other times, giving flows from a moral impulse. “I ought to.” We see a need and we know the right thing to do, so we respond out of conviction.
Best of all are the moments when giving rises from joy itself. “I get to.” We experience a kind of holy delight in watching someone’s face brighten, knowing that our gift, however simple, planted joy in another soul.
But answering the why behind our giving reveals far more than we often realize. It exposes the posture of our hearts. The motivation beneath a gift shapes what expectations quietly attach to it. Sometimes we give with hands that appear open, yet somewhere inside we are holding on—expecting appreciation, reciprocity, recognition or even control. In those moments, giving shifts from a gift to a transaction, even if no one ever names it out loud.
However, woven through Scripture is a through line that runs counter to every transactional impulse in our world: the economy of God is built on gift, not debt, and on mercy, not exchange. “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” Acts 20:35 NIV.
God’s movement toward us is not calculated or contractual. It is generous, overflowing, undeserved. “For God so loved the world that He gave,” John 3:16 NKJV. He loved. He gave. Full stop.
No prerequisites, no repayment plan, no fine print. In a world where value is often measured in productivity, performance or payback, God defines relationship by grace alone.
And when we give from that place—from an awareness that everything we have is a gift—we participate in the very heart of God’s economy. We step into the blessing Jesus spoke of: the deep joy found not in receiving, but in giving with open hands and a free heart.
By Michael Gibson, lead pastor
Keene Seventh-day Adventist Church, Keene, Texas
A version of this article was used for the January 3, 2026, local church budget offering appeal.
