As our creator, God has given us certain laws of love—gracious, caring guidelines to live by. When we follow those principles, we find deeper joy and greater fulfillment. Some of those guidelines relate to the money he has entrusted to our care, financial resources he urges us to generously share with others. What are these guidelines of giving?

1. God is the owner of all.
2. The priority of all giving is dependency.
3. The motivation for all our giving must be love.
4. People are always more important than dollars.
5. God expects us to be faithful.

1. God is the owner of all.
   "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it" (Psalm 24:1).

   It all starts with an understanding of who owns what. Houses and land, bank accounts and investment portfolios, family and friends, the earth and everything in it—everything belongs to God, 100 percent. There is nothing that does not belong to him. Even we ourselves are no longer our own according to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: "You are not your own; you were bought with a price." If we don't own our lives, how can we possible own property? This principle may be the second most important truth in Scripture, as it helps explain the significance of what we do. The most important principle is that God loved us so much that he sent his son, so that we might live with him and enjoy him forever. Without recognition of God's ownership of us, we cannot live as Christ would have us live. While we may affirm this principle, it is difficult to live it in a secular, affluent western society where we are often judged by what we own.
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2. The priority of all giving is dependency.
   "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith" (1 Timothy 5:8).

   This verse reveals one of the strongest admonitions in Scripture—that of caring for our families in order to validate our faith. The principle is "care" in every sense of the word, including the use of our financial resources. However, it does not mean parents must "prosper" their children. In fact, when children leave the home, they typically establish their own households and take up their own responsibilities. In time, one of those responsibilities may become the care of aging parents who may need financial help. Likewise, the church is dependent on us and, amazing as it seems, God has chosen us—his children—to use the money he has entrusted to our care to establish and nurture the church, the family of faith. In several passages Paul teaches that we are to give ourselves to God first and then to his church, faithfully giving to its work in the world.
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3. The motivation for all our giving must be love.
   "Of all the commandments, which is the most important? The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:28-31).

   The point is clear: love for God and love for neighbor. While the priority for giving is dependency, the motive-the attitude for giving—is love. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13:3 declares, "If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." It appears that the motive for giving is all-important. As the writer of Proverbs teaches, "All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord" (Proverbs 16:2). Giving without love is not biblical giving.
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4. People are always more important than dollars.
   "I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings" (Luke 16:9).

   According to "The Parable of the Shrewd Manager," many benefits of our giving (to family, charity, etc.) will come to us in heaven. While the worldly manager in the parable used his master's money to gain friends on earth, we are to use God's money to influence people for heaven. Picture the welcome we may receive in heaven as we are greeted by those who were changed forever because of our generosity, assisted by our use of the money God entrusted to us. Christ died for people, not things. To put relationships in jeopardy for financial purposes is dangerous. Instead, we use the money given to us to build relationships that outlast time.
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5. God expects us to be faithful.
   "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God [the gospel]. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).

   If God is the owner of all, if he wants us to care for those dependent on us, if he wants us to be motivated by love, if he want us to value people above dollars, then how should we regard ourselves and our financial responsibility? These verses give us the pattern: We are servants of the God who owns everything, and he has entrusted us with a vital purpose in life—we are to further the gospel. Our job is to remain faithful in this responsibility. What does that mean when it comes to our money? Every financial decision is first a spiritual decision. We are to make all of our financial decisions in light of their eternal impact on souls—our own soul and the souls of others.
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