What Does Giving Look Like? Red Letter Challenge Week 5
- Aug 10, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 11, 2025
INTRODUCTION:
If you’ve been tracking with us over these last few weeks, you know we have been in a 40 Day Red Letter Challenge. We’ve been challenged to focus on BEING with God before doing for God and what it means to just enjoy our relationship with the Creator. We then focused on FORGIVENESS, followed by SERVING last week.
Week 5, that's right week 5 of the Red Letter Challenge and we are in it! This week focuses on giving and yeah that is sometimes the thing that makes us shift in our seat at church, I know.
The Bible contains over 2,000 verses about money, possessions, and stewardship. That’s more than heaven and hell combined. Why?
Because money has a mysterious thing about it.
It can bless others—or it can blind us.
It can serve God—or silently become our god.
It can lead to trust—or trap us in fear.
Jesus knew something we often forget: Where your treasure goes, your heart follows.
And He cares too much about your heart to ignore something that competes for your trust daily.
So today we’re not just talking about giving—we’re talking about trust, and a better way to live.
A way that challenges fear with faith. Scarcity with God’s abundance. Greed with generosity.
Let’s discover together what happens when we loosen our grip on stuff and tighten our grip on Jesus.
This leads into Point 1…
POINT 1: What You Treasure Reveals Your Heart
If you have your bible, open up to Matthew 6:19-21
This is a part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, where He’s teaching people how to live in God’s kingdom. In this section, Jesus is warning against storing up earthly treasures and encouraging His followers to invest in eternal things.
Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Treasure Reveals What You Value
Your “treasure” isn’t just your money. It’s whatever you value most—where do you spend your time, energy, resources, attention?
Wherever that treasure is, your heart—your focus, desire, and affection—naturally follows.
In other words: what you invest in is what will capture your heart.
Your Heart Follows, Not Leads
This verse flips the common idea that our hearts lead our actions. Jesus says: your heart follows your treasure.
So if you’re always thinking about your money, your possessions, your career, —those things have your heart.
But if you're investing in the things of God—His commands, His people, HIs glory—your heart will be anchored in heaven. Think, Eternal perspective and Kingdom thinking.
It’s About Trust, Let me clarify…
Jesus isn’t just telling you where to put your money—He’s asking you to check what you trust. We can find ourselves trusting in the stuff we have, or to put it another way, our identity can be found in our possessions or money.
Earthly treasure fades. Heavenly treasure lasts forever.
The question becomes: Do I trust God enough to invest in what matters to Him—even when I can’t see the return right away?
POINT 2: It’s Not the Amount…
Mark 12:43–44
“Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
True generosity isn’t about the amount—it’s about the sacrifice.
The rich gave large sums, but it didn’t cost them much. The widow gave two small coins, but it was all she had.
Jesus saw her heart—and praised her faith.
God sees what others don’t.
Most people probably overlooked her gift. It seemed small and insignificant. But Jesus didn’t just see the amount—He saw the trust behind it.
Faith-filled giving matters more than flashy giving.
The widow trusted God with everything. She didn’t give out of excess; she gave out of dependence on God. Her gift was a statement of surrender, not just charity.
Are we giving in a way that stretches our faith? Do we measure generosity by the size of the gift or the size of the sacrifice? Would Jesus call our giving comfortable… or courageous?
POINT 3: Generosity can break the grip of fear and remind us of His abundance.
Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, where he’s encouraging believers to give generously to support fellow Christians in need (especially the struggling church in Jerusalem). He’s not just raising funds—he’s teaching a kingdom mindset about generosity. Listen to what he has written to them…
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written,
“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
There is a LOT in here:
When we break down the verses:
Verses 6–7 – Paul emphasizes sowing and reaping and the call to give willingly and cheerfully, not reluctantly.
Verses 8–11 – God promises to sufficiency.
Verses 12–15 – Giving not only meets practical needs but also results in overflowing thankfulness to God.
Generosity is both a seed and a harvest—when we give freely, we are reminded of His abundance, how He meets needs, and it produces thanksgiving and glory to Him.
Listen to this verse 7 again. – “God loves a cheerful giver.”
1. Giving Is Personal and Purposeful
“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart…”
Giving isn’t about comparison or pressure.
Paul says: decide in your heart—meaning with thought, prayer, and conviction.
This kind of giving reflects a relationship with God, not a transaction.
2. God Doesn’t Want Grudging Gifts
“Not reluctantly or under compulsion…”
God’s not interested in guilt-driven or forced giving.
He doesn’t want you to drop money in the offering plate with a grimace or because someone twisted your arm.
If giving feels like a burden, the heart needs to catch up with the hand.
3. God Delights in Joyful Generosity
“For God loves a cheerful giver.”
The word cheerful in Greek is hilaros—where we get the word hilarious.
God takes delight when His people give with joy, freedom, and eagerness.
Why? Because joyful giving reflects His own heart. God is the ultimate cheerful giver.
APPLICATION:
This week, take inventory: Where is most of your money, time, and attention going? What does that say about your heart?
Identify one area where materialism has quietly taken root—status, comfort, savings, stuff. What would it look like to give that over to God this week?
Personal Challenge:
Keep doing your daily reading and challenges! Reply to our 7CC Text feed or Facebook posts anything praiseworthy or prayer needed. Let us know how it’s going! Tell us your stories!