“On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned…” – 1 Cor. 16:2, Living Bible

There is a quiet myth that has settled into the pews of many churches: that generosity is a wealthy person’s assignment, and the poor exist only to receive it.

We clap and shout hallelujah at stories of a wealthy brother’s large donation for missions or for the anonymous American donor who covers the orphanage’s budget — and somewhere in our hearts we exhale, relieved that the burden of giving has landed on someone else’s shoulders.

Paul will not let us off so easily.

Writing to the Corinthians about the collection for the suffering saints in Jerusalem, he does not say “let the rich among you set something aside.”

He says, “On the first day of every week, each one of you is to put something aside.”

Let that land nicely – each one. Not the rich family alone, no; everyone.

This is not a new idea Paul invented for this particular fundraising campaign.

It is woven into the fabric of Israel’s worship.

Deuteronomy 16:17 instructs that everyone appear before the Lord with a gift, in proportion to the blessing God has given.

In Matthew 25:29, Jesus made a profound statement.

He said: “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”

That implies that everyone one has something to give, including those who claim not to have.

This is why Jesus could watch a widow drop two small coins into the temple treasury and declare that she had given more than the wealthy depositors beside her, because her giving was planned, intentional and deliberate, not a spur-of-the-moment emotion.

The old Jewish household understood something we have largely forgotten: generosity that waits for a feeling rarely survives to become an action.

So, among the ‘five jars’ for prudent financial management – Tithe, Investing, Saving and Spending/consumption – sat another jar marked ‘Giving’ – replenished weekly, long before in preparation for any specific need that could arise.

When the moment came to help a neighbour or support the Levite at the gate, the resource was already there, untouched by hesitation or second-guessing.

Paul is essentially telling the Corinthians to keep such a jar.

Prepare in advance, he says, so that giving is never a scramble but a settled rhythm – intentional rather than impulsive, planned rather than pressured.

That phrase, “portion of the money you have earned” matters urgently today, because it exposes a counterfeit generosity now common in many pulpits.

There are leaders who demand sacrificial “seeds” far beyond what their people can bear – pressuring the unemployed widow and the struggling student to give as though they were top executives, then dressing coercion in spiritual language.

This is not biblical giving; it is extortion wearing a robe.

Scripture never asks for what you cannot afford to give.

It asks for a portion of what income earned, offered honestly and without compulsion, for “God loves a cheerful giver” – not a frightened one.

The instruction is about the shape of a generous Christian lifestyle – ordered, expectant, and liberal by habit rather than by accident.

So let this be practical, not merely poetic.

First, decide a percentage, not a leftover – commit to a proportion of what comes in, however small, before the month’s expenses swallow it.

Second, automate it: a standing transfer on payday does for your generosity what good intentions alone often cannot.

Third, keep a visible giving fund – digital or in an envelope – so that when a need surfaces, your answer is already sitting there, patient and ready to change hands.

Paul’s instruction was never about the size of the gift.

It was about the shape of a generous Christian lifestyle – ordered, expectant, and generous by habit rather than by accident.

Each one of you, is our challenge today.

It includes you.