Lost Stories Gem #53
The Shift From Giving to Worship
Walk into most churches and you'll hear giving discussed in practical terms. We need funds for a building project. We need help to feed and clothe the poor. We need to support missionary outreach programs. Of course, these are all worthy causes, and the needs are real. But somewhere along the way, the Church has let a critical truth slip out of its collective memory.
Jesus once told His disciples to watch a widow give everything she had. Not out of abundance, not out of obligation, but out of faith. He called her gift greater than all the wealthy donors combined. Yet ask yourself: When was the last time you heard a sermon about her? When did your pastor last hold up her example as the model for Christian giving?
The silence is deafening. And that silence points to an unfortunate misconception that has taken root in how we understand biblical giving.
Faith and Giving Aren't Separate Things
Most Christians know the difference between belief and faith, at least in theory. Yet when it comes to giving, we often confuse them. We say we have faith. We believe in Jesus. We believe in Scripture. But belief alone isn't faith in the biblical sense.
In the original Greek, the word for "faith" is pisteo, which is a verb. It describes an action. Real faith isn't something you possess like a wallet in your pocket. Real faith is something you do. It's what happens, for instance, when you lean your full weight on a cane because you believe it will hold you up. In other words, it's the action that flows from your conviction that God will do what He says He'll do.
This matters enormously when we talk about giving. Because giving motivated by guilt, by institutional need, or by social expectation isn't faith at all. It's a transaction. It's an obligation. It's a duty. But giving that springs from the conviction that God is worthy in Himself, that His word is true, that His promises will come to pass, that's faith. And therein lies the rub: duty-based giving is radically different from faith-based giving.
The Woman With the Alabaster Jar
Consider the scene recorded in Mark's Gospel. A woman entered the home of Simon the leper while Jesus reclined at table. She carried an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, pure nard, costly beyond what most people earned in a month. Without ceremony, she broke the jar and poured the fragrant oil onto Jesus' head.
The disciples were appalled. Not because she'd been wasteful in a trivial sense, but because they saw the potential utility being destroyed. That perfume could have been sold. The money could have gone to the poor. From every practical standpoint, from every human-centered view of stewardship, her action made no sense.
But Jesus defended her completely. He said: "Leave her alone. She's done a beautiful thing for Me. The poor you'll always have with you, and you can help them whenever you want. But you won't always have Me. She's done what she could to anoint My body in advance of My burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the Gospel is preached in all the world, what she's done will also be told in memory of her."
Notice what Jesus didn't say. He didn't criticize concern for the poor. He didn't dismiss practical stewardship. He simply affirmed that worship itself is higher than utility. That honoring God's presence is more important than optimizing outcomes. That sometimes the most faithful thing you can do is the thing that makes no sense by human calculation.
Why Her Gift Was an Act of Faith
The disciples missed what was happening, even though Jesus had told them repeatedly. He'd predicted His death. He'd explained His mission. But they couldn't accept that the One Who calmed storms and healed the sick would face execution. It contradicted their picture of what the Messiah should be.
But this woman understood. Somehow, in the depths of her spirit, she grasped what the twelve still couldn't see. She acted as though Jesus' words were true. She anointed His body in advance of His burial because she believed what He said would actually come to pass. Her extravagant, seemingly wasteful, gift was actually rooted in faith.
That's the opposite of how most giving works. Most duty-based giving asks: What is needed? What problem can we solve? What return might we expect? But faith-based giving asks: What does God deserve? What response does His truth demand? What does it mean to worship Him with my substance and not just my words?
The Shift From Giving to Worship
Here's where the misconception becomes most dangerous. When giving is framed primarily as meeting needs, it becomes a merit-based system. As such, whoever gives the most is the most righteous. Whoever gives to the most worthy cause is the most righteous. But unfortunately, all this does is reduce generosity to a behavior that can be graded, measured, and compared.
That's because genuine biblical giving isn't about how much you give or which cause is the most worthy. It's about whether your giving actually reflects real faith in God's character and promises. Consider these choices; consider giving because:
Others are in need of my compassion
The Church asked me for my obedience
God is worthy of my worship
Only the third choice flows from biblical faith. Only the third choice represents the kind of giving that would move Jesus to say, "This will be remembered as long as the Gospel is preached."
Recovering a Biblical View
To restore a correct understanding of biblical giving, we must start with a correct understanding of biblical faith. Just as faith and science aren't enemies but complementary wellsprings of truth, the same principle applies to faith and giving. In short, when you grasp what real faith is, you're positioned to understand what real giving looks like. Asking yourself the following questions, then, can help reorient your thinking:
Do I give because God is worthy, or because a need exists?
Am I giving what I can afford to lose, or am I giving as an act of faith that God will provide?
Would I give this gift if no one ever knew I gave it, or am I seeking recognition?
Does my giving reflect my actual belief in God's promises, or does it reflect cultural obligation?
The widow, who gave her last coins, answered all these questions correctly. The woman, who poured out her expensive ointment, answered all these questions correctly. They didn't calculate outcomes. They didn't weigh options. They simply recognized that God was present in Jesus, that He was worthy of their devotion, and that He deserved to receive the best they had to offer to Him.
A Better Framework for Understanding Generosity
When you understand that biblical giving is an expression of faith, you understand why the object of your giving matters less than the spirit in which you give. A small gift given in faith outweighs a large gift given out of obligation or desire for recognition.
This doesn't mean the poor don't matter. It doesn't mean the Church's institutional needs are irrelevant. Rather, it means that when you give with a heart rooted in faith, trusting that God will multiply your generosity and use it according to His purposes, you're participating in something far deeper than philanthropy. You're worshiping. You're demonstrating that you believe God keeps His promises.
The Apostle Paul described this reality when he wrote about sharing materially with those who teach God's word. He promised that God would supply seed for the sower, that it would produce a rich harvest from the giver's generosity, and that it would do all this so that thanksgiving would overflow to God. This is what happens when giving is rooted in faith and worship rather than fear or guilt.
The Legacy of Faith-Centered Giving
Jesus promised that the woman with the alabaster jar would be remembered wherever the Gospel is preached. Not because she solved a problem. Not because she met a need. But because her gift demonstrated trust in God so complete that she would pour out her wealth on His head without hesitation or calculation.
That promise stands. We're called to remember her. But more than that, we're called to emulate her. To examine our own giving and ask whether it flows from worship or from other sources. To consider what it means to give not because we're obligated, not because we're guilt-ridden, but because we're convinced that God is worthy of our wholehearted response.
When you give this way, you bless not only those who receive your gift but everyone who witnesses what it means to live by faith. You model for others what it looks like to do things God's way. And you join a long line of faithful people whose names may be forgotten by history but whose deeds are forever remembered by God.
More to Explore
The Lost Stories Channel exists to help you uncover the deep truths about faith, Scripture, and how to live according to God's design rather than the world's expectations. Through blogs, essays, books, audios, and videos, you’ll find the kind of investigation that moves beyond tradition and gets back to what Scripture itself teaches. They are presented here to help truth seekers recover long-lost biblical knowledge, especially when it challenges comfortable assumptions about faith, hope, and our ultimate destiny. If you’ve ever felt that mainstream teaching left crucial questions unanswered, now is the time to explore deeper.
