Verse 7

Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver.

Referenced Verses

  • Exod 25:2 : 2 “Tell the Israelites to take an offering for me; from every person motivated by a willing heart you are to receive my offering.
  • 2 Cor 8:12 : 12 For if the eagerness is present, the gift itself is acceptable according to whatever one has, not according to what he does not have.
  • Rom 12:8 : 8 if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness.
  • 1 Chr 29:17 : 17 I know, my God, that you examine thoughts and are pleased with integrity. With pure motives I contribute all this; and now I look with joy as your people who have gathered here contribute to you.
  • Acts 20:35 : 35 By all these things, I have shown you that by working in this way we must help the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said,‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
  • Deut 15:7-9 : 7 The Spirit of Liberality If a fellow Israelite from one of your villages in the land that the LORD your God is giving you should be poor, you must not harden your heart or be insensitive to his impoverished condition. 8 Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend him whatever he needs. 9 Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite and you do not lend him anything; he will cry out to the LORD against you and you will be regarded as having sinned. 10 You must by all means lend to him and not be upset by doing it, for because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you attempt. 11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open your hand to your fellow Israelites who are needy and poor in your land.
  • Deut 15:14 : 14 You must supply them generously from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress– as the LORD your God has blessed you, you must give to them.
  • Exod 35:5 : 5 ‘Take an offering for the LORD. Let everyone who has a willing heart bring an offering to the LORD: gold, silver, bronze,
  • Prov 11:25 : 25 A generous person will be enriched, and the one who provides water for others will himself be satisfied.
  • Prov 22:9 : 9 A generous person will be blessed, for he has given some of his food to the poor.
  • Prov 23:6-8 : 6 Do not eat the food of a stingy person, do not crave his delicacies; 7 for he is like someone who has calculated the cost in his mind.“Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you; 8 you will vomit up the little bit you have eaten, and will have wasted your pleasant words.
  • Isa 32:5 : 5 A fool will no longer be called honorable; a deceiver will no longer be called principled.
  • Isa 32:8 : 8 An honorable man makes honorable plans; his honorable character gives him security.
  • Jas 5:9 : 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates!
  • 1 Pet 4:9 : 9 Show hospitality to one another without complaining.