Giving from the Heart

As I was studying today, I was thinking about elementary school.  Valentine's Day would come around and we would all be SO excited to hand out our valentine's cards and to get some in return.  A day full of pink and red and tons of glitter, silly crushes and broken hearts by the age of 9.   You waited, rather impatiently, all day until your teacher allowed the class to exchange valentine's.  But you could always tell who was giving you a card because they had to and who was giving you a card because they wanted to.  It was something about their attitude...which stems from the heart.

Exodus 25:2 - Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise my contribution.

You see, our giving, our tithe, is directly tied to our hearts.  The word for moves in this passage means "to incite, impel, make willing" (Strong's).  So God wanted an offering from those whose heart's made them willing.  An offering, or contribution, to our God shouldn't be something we do begrudgingly - "We should ask, not only 'What must we do?' but, 'What may we do?' Whatever they gave, they must give it cheerfully."  Giving must come from a willing and cheerful heart - we shouldn't view our giving and tithe as something we have to do, but rather, something that we get to do!  

The next time you go to give an offering or tithe I challenge you to examine your heart:  

Are you willing and joyful?  

Or are you sitting there thinking of everything else you could be doing with that money and reluctantly placing it in the offering plate?  

I have been guilty of the latter a few times but I am striving every day to remain joyful and willing to give God all that my heart moves me too!