Should My Giving Be Proportional to My Means?

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Date: October 13, 2022

For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord. 2 Corinthians 8:3 ESV
If you give to God out of your surplus, is that really even giving? Does God value non-sacrificial giving?
Let’s do some quick math.  If you give away 10% of a million dollars, that leaves you with $900,000—a lot of money to live on, right?  But if you give 10% of $18,000, which is the average annual income across the globe, that leaves you with just over $16,000 for the year. The person who started with a million bucks a year has a lot more left to live on than the average person, after giving.
Jesus told a story about radically proportional giving in the Bible book of Luke. He was in the temple in Jerusalem watching rich people drop their gifts in the collection box when a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins (Luke 21:1-2). “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to the wealthy worshippers, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them.  For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has” (Luke 21:3-4).
The wealthy people in Jesus’ account were giving out of their surplus and not, “according to their means,” or “beyond their means,” as the Apostle Paul would later teach (2 Corinthians 8:3). Making this personal, I wonder if I am giving according to and  in right proportion to my means, or simply out of my surplus, when my giving doesn’t impact my lifestyle. Has my giving just become another “bill” I have budgeted to pay, along with my electric, phone and rent?
It’s something for me to think about and pray about.  And maybe for you too.