John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

When we speak of giving, and particularly the joy in it, God serves as our greatest example of One who gave in the greatest way, for the greatest ends, yielding the greatest joy. Our giving starts with a right view of God. In order for us to give well and give joyfully and reap the fruit of joy through giving, we must be very God-centered in our giving. We must look to God and pattern our lives after Him, align ourselves with Him, seek the things He seeks. Then, we will know the joy of giving, especially when we understand the connection between giving and living.

John 3:16 reveals to us that God is a giving God. “For God so loved the world, that He gave.” Notice what He gave. He gave the best. He gave sacrificially. He gave it all. He gave His Son!

Notice why He gave. He gave in order that whoever would believe in His Son would have LIFE! He gave His Son because only in the giving of His Son was He able to bestow life upon sinners. His giving issued forth into life, real life, abundant life, eternal life.

Notice how He gave. He gave as an expression of the depths of His love. For God so loved the world, literally means, For God loved the world in this particular way. “So” is not a word of emphasis as “I love you SOOO much” but rather a word of description as “this is the way I love you (cf 1 Jn 4:11). God says, “I loved you in this way: I sent my Son to die in your place so that you may live forever.”

God’s giving resulted in true, everlasting living, and therein lies our greatest joy and God’s glory. Now, the lesson for us is to see that as we pattern our giving after our Father’s giving, it yields living as well, which means more joy. As God has given to us, we give to God. “For God so loved the world, that He gave” becomes for His people so loved God, that they gave (1 Jn 4:19).

What do we give? We “give” it all. We “give” our best. We “give” everything to Him. Sometimes that means simply acknowledging it is His to take, and sometimes that means literally giving away what He has given us for His name’s sake.

Why do we give? For life! We have discovered that life is worth the living when your giving it away. It IS better to give than to receive. In addition, our giving promotes the Gospel to those who have yet to see that Christianity is more than religion, Christ is more than a religious figure. Christianity is eternal life found only in Christ!

How do we give? We give as an expression of our great love for our Father who has loved us with an everlasting love.

In the end, our giving produces exactly what the Father’s giving produces; joy for us and glory to Him!