The most obvious beneficiaries of the financial gifts of Christians are their churches, schools, and charitable ministries. That’s where the gifts become visible.

But those are just the secondary recipients of our gifts. The more important intended beneficiary is God himself. Our gifts are given first to him. But it’s not that he needs our money. He isn’t broke: “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it” (Psalm 50:9-12).

This is a great paradox. The great Lord of all, Creator of the world’s gold and silver, opens his hands to receive our dimes. The serene Master of human history, self-sufficient and eternal, actually cares about our offerings and eagerly scrutinizes what we bring him. Why?

What do you give a God who has everything? Give him what only you possess—your heart. The amount of the gift, the actual money or goods that you let go of, is not for his heavenly balance sheet. It is a marker for you, so that you may put an emphasis on your words of worship and adoration.

The God who isn’t broke is so thrilled with your heart-gifts that he will soon give you back more than you first gave him.