Giving should be done genuinely.
Giving is one habit that comes with an abundant reward when done genuinely, it's not just the earthly reward because it is something that the Almighty God loves to see us do and he blesses people for giving genuinely.
There are countless examples in the scriptures that showed how much God values giving and the one that surprises me the more is in the book of Genesis 18.
Is there still such kind of giving in the world today?
Abraham saw three strangers walking in the hot sun, he approached them and offer them water but he went on to make a meal and even slaughtered a calf for a stranger. He might be inspired in the spirit to do so but as long as they were strangers, what he did was extraordinary.
If you think it is nothing, can you go into your farm and kill your biggest chicken for a stranger?
Giving is not what it use to be anymore, humans do things for reasons that benefit them a lot. Unlike Abraham, he had a pure intention towards the strangers and that intention is what differentiates a genuine giver from a fake one.
Recently, I read a story of a market woman who rejected a token from a politician who was passing by. She said she had enough for herself and her children, the man can move on to give it to others. The woman stated when asked by bloggers that the man only wanted to get attention because the election is approaching, he was only trying to paint a good picture to make people see him as a better candidate for the next election.
If a woman can identify a fake giving, how much more does the Almighty God sees. He sees beyond what we see with our eyes and he knows when there is even the slightest of a selfish reason forgiving.
Helping must be done with pure intentions and only that makes it genuine.
A genuine giving doesn't have anything to do with the size of what you are giving, a $1 gift could be worth more than a $100 gift if the intentions of the $1 giver are pure. To an ordinary eye, the $100 is huge but to God the $1 is genuine, do you remember the story of the widow in Mark 12: 41?
Christ mentioned that the two copper coins dropped by the window is bigger than the abundance the rich men dropped because she had the purest intention with the offering, it was all she had.
The amount of what you gave sometimes does not matter, the intention about it is what matters in the presence of God.
In the world today, we have seen people do huge donations just to get fame. They go with cameras and even pay bloggers to promote it just because they want the world to see what they are doing, they want to be praised.
Some would do it knowing that there would be a reward for it in the future meaning, they wouldn't attempt to help if they won't get anything in return and these things don't go in line with the kind of giving the Almighty God approves.
Giving for attention and fame make doesn't make your giving genuine, it is better to give small genuinely than do it huge that is not recognized by God.
1 Kings 17:7-16
The widow at Zarephath said she was gathering sticks to prepare the last flour for herself and the kid, after that death but she went on to prepare that same meal for Elijah as requested by him.
Guess what happened to her, she and her family never lacked.
A preacher once said, the best people to help are those you know don't have the power to do the favor back and I agree. The reward of every genuine giving is in the hand of God, he will surely bless you even in a way you don't expect from.
A young guy in Nigeria gave prisoners who were been transported money, what was he expecting in return?
My answer would be nothing because he can't even say if they were going to kill them, unknowing to the boy that someone was recording the video of him while giving them money. The video went viral and that was all the guy did to become rich as some Nigeria Millionaire decided to help me, his pure intention while giving was rewarded bountifully.
The saying that givers never lack is true but it would only come to reality when we do the giving genuinely, any selfish intention accompanied by the giving will definitely hinder whatever reward we expect in return and if eventually come, we do be missing out on God's blessing for that.
These days a lot of people give just because they want to chase clout, they go with cameras and take selfies just for publicity. Recently I heard of a case where a young man visited a hospital and asked for the bills of some of the patients, he cleared bills worth millions of naira and walked away without taking pictures or posting about it, it was one of the hospital staffs that tweeted it on twitter. Those type of persons are very rare in the world today, if it's some other persons that did that hospital stunt, then the news would have been all over the cyberspace by now