For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
Paul is writing to the church in Corinth — a prosperous Greek city — encouraging them to follow through on a financial gift they had earlier promised to collect for impoverished Christians in Jerusalem. He reassures them with a principle: the size of the gift doesn't determine its acceptability to God. What matters is willingness — that the desire to give is genuinely there. God measures generosity not against some absolute dollar amount but against what a person actually has. This removes both the poor person's excuse ("I have nothing to give") and the wealthy person's pride ("I gave more than anyone else").
Lord, you see not just what I give but why — and you already know the gap between my capacity and my willingness. Grow my willingness. Help me hold what I have loosely, trusting that you are enough, so I can give freely from what you've already given me. Amen.
Paul is writing to a church that made a promise and then got awkward about it. Maybe their financial situation had shifted. Maybe the amount they'd originally envisioned felt too ambitious now. And into that tension he says something that will either relieve you or quietly unsettle you, depending on where you're sitting: the gift is measured against what you have, not against what you don't. Which means the widow giving her last two coins and a billionaire endowing a building can both be acts of genuine generosity — or neither can be, if the heart has gone somewhere else. This verse has a way of dissolving excuses at both ends. If you've been waiting to give until you have enough — secure enough, comfortable enough, past the current uncertainty — you may be waiting for a moment that never quite arrives. But if willingness is there, what you have right now is already the right measure. So here is Paul's real question, the one he keeps circling back to: What is the honest state of your willingness? Not your capacity — your willingness. You can't manufacture generosity through obligation, but you can sit with that question seriously, and ask what's holding your heart back.
Paul says 'willingness' is the key factor in acceptable giving. What do you think genuine willingness actually involves — is it just desire, or does it require something more active on your part?
Have you ever made a financial or time commitment — to a church, a cause, or a person — that you later felt unable or unwilling to keep? What did that experience teach you?
This verse suggests God doesn't compare your giving to anyone else's. How does that principle either free you or challenge you in how you think about your own generosity?
How does the idea of 'give according to what you have' change the way you might encourage or respond to generosity — or its absence — in others?
If you were completely honest about your willingness to give right now — money, time, energy — what would you say? What is one step you could take toward greater generosity this month?
For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
Mark 12:44
The desire of a man is his kindness: and a poor man is better than a liar.
Proverbs 19:22
For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.
Luke 21:4
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly , or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:7
And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.
1 Chronicles 28:9
And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
Mark 12:42
And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.
Luke 21:1
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
Romans 12:6
For if the eagerness [to give] is there, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
AMP
For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.
ESV
For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what [a person] has, not according to what he does not have.
NASB
For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
NIV
For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.
NKJV
Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.
NLT
Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't. The heart regulates the hands.
MSG