Five Marks of a Gifted Giver

Why do some people confuse the gift of giving with the “gift of earning”? And how is someone with the gift of giving actually different from someone who simply gives?

If the “gift of earning” were a spiritual gift, it would likely be the most sought-after one. Sometimes the gift of giving, or generosity, gets conflated with the “gift of earning” in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. For instance:

• A pastor shares, “If you are doing well financially, you may have the gift of giving.”

• A young student forecasts, “My goal is to create a technology start-up, make a ton of money, and then give away a lot of money to the church.”

• An entrepreneur assumes, “I have the gift of generosity because I'm successful in business and can write large checks.”

While each of these statements endorses giving, they all assume that a giver’s primary value lies in funding ministry. The more you make, the more you give, and the more you give, the more you have the gift of giving.

The Bible disagrees. In Luke 21:1-4, Jesus lauds the widow for donating two small copper coins because of the depth of her sacrifice. In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira gave a large sum to the church, and God struck them dead for lying about the percentage they gave. Clearly, the gift of giving is about more than just the amount.

What makes a gifted giver different from someone who gives? From my time serving where faith and finance meet, I've come to believe every gifted giver shares a set of characteristics.

1. Generous

All of us are expected to give. Those with the gift of giving give a higher percentage of their income than the average Christian in a similar economic situation. That's why percentage matters: it lets the widow compare favorably to the rich, who gave out of their abundance, while she gave all she had.

2. Worshipful

Gifted givers see giving primarily as worship rather than obedience — an act of joy as they return to God some of the blessings He has given them. Many faithful givers who regularly support the Kingdom do so out of obedience, and that's good. But the gift of giving asks for something more: experiencing giving as a full part of the worship experience.

3. Abundance-oriented

In Matthew 6:22, Jesus uses the metaphor of the eye as “the lamp of the body.” The metaphor is strange to us because it was based on the scientific understanding of the day. The original audience would immediately have understood it to describe someone who sees the world as abundant rather than scarce, allowing us to be generous, rather than selfish. Sandwiched between his teachings on true treasure and true masters, healthy eyes let us think of others rather than ourselves.

4. Discerning

This shows up in different ways. Some people are great at seeing a need and giving to support it, whether big or small. The person who buys a downcast stranger a meal sees a need. Other givers may have a vision for what the recipient needs to do next and be called to fund it. Crown College’s future worship and student life center is a great example of the gift of giving in action. Other gifted givers are called to consistently support an area of passion, like evangelism, prison ministry, or camps. Sometimes discernment is exercised when a gifted giver chooses not to give because the vision or the timing isn't right.

5. Transformational

Gifted givers take financial resources and turn them into Kingdom resources. The surprising parable of the shrewd manager in Luke 16 tells of a dishonest manager who, about to lose his job, cleverly turns worldly wealth into future favors. Then Jesus commands, “...use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” Jesus wants us to shrewdly turn our financial assets into investments in kingdom expansion.

Regardless of your wealth, if these characteristics describe you, you likely have the gift of giving. The Kingdom and the world both benefit when you exercise this gift with whatever God has entrusted to you. And even if you aren’t fully there but still striving to grow in the grace of giving, the lesson is the same: hold what you've been given loosely and watch what God does with it.