“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.” Proverbs 3:27

In a land of plenty, we are seldom confronted by those in genuine need. Yet when such opportunities do arise, we remain responsible to act. How we respond in those moments reveals much about our devotion to the One whose life perfectly embodied true benevolence. When our service follows His example, it will be marked by three beautiful qualities.

1. True Benevolence Is Sincere

Why we practice benevolence matters to God. True benevolence never seeks public recognition. In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord warned that giving to those in need must never be done for personal acclaim (see Matthew 6:1–4). God does not measure generosity by the size of the gift, but by the motive of the heart. He is unimpressed by outward performance, yet He delights in those who serve sincerely out of gratitude for all they have received.

2. True Benevolence Is Sacrificial

Most of us give only when it costs us little. Much of what passes for generosity is offered with the expectation of reciprocity. One of the great evils of the prosperity gospel is that it promotes giving as a means of getting. Charlatans preach as though to say, “Give, and you will receive much more in return!” But giving in order to get is not generosity at all, it is merely exchange. Jesus commanded a radically different approach: “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet, don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.” Luke 14:12–14 (NLT)

Jonathan Edwards touches a nerve when he asks: “If we be never obliged to relieve others’ burdens, but when we can do it without burdening ourselves, then how do we bear our neighbor’s burdens, when we bear no burden at all?”

3. True Benevolence Is Submissive

For the believer, meeting human need when it lies within our power is not optional. Jesus taught that service to others is our duty (see Luke 17:10). Edwards again speaks to this point with clarity:

“It is not merely a commendable thing for a man to be kind and bountiful to the poor, but our bounden duty—as much a duty as it is to pray, or to attend public worship, or anything else whatever. And the neglect of it brings great guilt upon any person. This is a duty to which God’s people are under very strict obligation.”

Giving as an act of obedience brings joy to a surrendered heart. Such generosity, fueled by gratitude to God, becomes an act of worship offered freely and decisively in submission to the One who gave His only Son for our salvation. As the Apostle Paul reminds us: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7

Examine your heart. Ask whether your service to the needs of others reflects true benevolence.