We Were Made for Giving
By Joe Barruso - Certified Relationship Coach
We live in a culture that calls us “consumers.” By definition a consumer takes, uses up, devours. This label describes more than our shopping habits — it describes our default way of living and loving. We measure worth by what we get, arrange relationships around benefits, and judge success by accumulation. But this posture — of getting as the center of life — is at odds with the very reason we were created.
The New Testament turns that assumption upside down. Jesus teaches that the greatest commandments are to love God and love others (Mark 12:30–31). Those commands aren’t transactional rules to maximize personal gain; they describe a way of being rooted in self-giving. “It is better to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) captures the economy of God’s kingdom: blessing flows most fully when we give, not when we consume.
To conform to the Law of Love means more than occasional generosity. It calls for wholehearted giving — heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). Love, as shown by Jesus and the Father, is giving without expecting return. Jesus explicitly describes this radical love when he tells us to love even those who cannot repay us (Luke 6:32–36). That is countercultural. It dismantles the merit-based, reciprocal logic that dominates our relationships and reshapes life around surrender rather than acquisition.
This is especially evident in forgiveness. Forgiveness is the distilled form of giving: you release your claim to repayment, you voluntarily remove the demand for what you’ve been denied, and you do so without expectation of restitution. It is the hardest gift because it asks us to die to our appetite for justice as repayment and to emulate God’s mercy instead. Yet it is among the most profound acts of worship we can offer — a tangible witness that we belong to a different economy, one defined by grace rather than gain.
Living as givers does not mean passivity or self-neglect. Loving others rightly includes loving ourselves and loving God (Mark 12:31). Self-giving is not self-destruction; it’s a reorientation of purpose. When our identity is not “consumer” but “giver,” our choices, priorities, and measures of success change. We steward resources rather than hoard them. We listen more than we demand. We invest in relationships rather than transactional benefits. We find our worth not in what others can do for us, but in being shaped to reflect God’s generous heart.
This shift has practical consequences. It reshapes parenting, work, friendships, and church life. It changes how we respond to offenses — choosing reconciliation over retaliation. It alters our social priorities — seeking the good of neighbors and the vulnerable rather than merely maximizing personal comfort. And it restores creation’s original intent: not to be a buffet for individual consumption, but a shared space for mutual flourishing through giving.
If you find yourself defined by what you get — possessions, praise, security — consider the portrait of humanity God paints in Scripture: made to give, made to forgive, made to pour out life for others. The call to give is not a burden but an invitation into the deepest fulfillment. When we give without expectation, we participate in God’s work of renewing hearts and restoring relationships. We stop defying God’s plan and begin living into it.
We were made for giving. To live that way is to live as we were created — to love God, to love others, and thereby discover the truest life for ourselves.