Giving is an interesting concept. I'm not sure I understood it until I was made aware of Christs sacrificial giving.
I would give in order to receive. I would give out of guilt though sometimes out of compassion. I would give because it seemed 'fair' in a particular context or simply to balance out a give/take relationship. Even those times where I gave out of love sacrificially, I cannot recall doing it for any greater purpose, any greater good. To be honest, I'm not sure I really wrestled with 'giving', especially it's deeper eternal purpose.However, once in Christ, though not understanding giving entirely and not right away as a new believer, it did make sense that giving was 'right' and that it brought joy and those warm-fuzzy feelings, especially when it cost me much.
The Apostle John explains this a bit, 'This is how we know what love is; Jesus Christ laid down his life for us' (1 John 3:16a) - this is the supreme example or model of love. this is a divine eternal love, a moral love, an ethical love, a sacrificial love, a practical love and a perfect human love. In other words, Giving flows first from our knowing and experiencing a perfect love in Christ.
He goes on, 'And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers,' (3:16b). John notes that Jesus is the model and that we are to be living examples of his perfect love. He goes on to stress that this is demonstrated specifically in the giving of our personal possessions (material belongings, food, money, housing etc), and in the general sense of how we live, 'action and in truth,' (3:18).
This is a holistic call to model Christ-likeness through the giving of ourselves, and this is a call to every believer at that. In fact John goes on to say that, 'This then is how we know that we belong to the truth,' (3:19)...if we give ourselves away. He follows this statement with some specifics about giving material goods and as well as good deeds, things and the Gospel.
There is something about giving that displays not only to the world but to our own hearts and minds that we truly know Jesus and what He has both redeemed us from and called us to.
Though as a new believer years ago I may not have been able to explain it, it seemed right to give. It seemed right simply because it was a divine character trait being fostered in my own life - I was becoming Christ-like. Whereas when I didn't know Christ I was simply acting Christ-like without knowing it and He yet honored this by providing those divine 'feelings' of joy and the like.
Giving is easy to do. That said, knowing the source of giving and our motivations is a deeper issue. Spend some time praying and discerning your own giving lifestyle. Are you modelling Christ-likeness?
Read 1 John 3:16-24 and Romans 12:1-8. Adapted from an original post at Medina East Campus' [RE]GIFT