Matthew 19
²¹Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." ²²When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. 

There are three distinct forms of giving.  First is the individual who gives freely of themselves without any expectation of repayment in either this life or the after life.  This form of giving is the truest form of giving, and is given with the "Spirit of Love," which is sanctioned by God. 

The second form of giving is that which we give to another with some form of expectation, we seek some form of repayment either in this life or after.  When we give with this spirit we tend to fall into resentments and animosity towards those we are giving to, and these feelings within ourselves move us further away from the loving Spirit of God..  

The other type of giving is that when we try to extend ourselves to help another for all the right reasons, but it is given to the wrong person and/or the wrong time.  We can actually help assist this person in continuing or delaying the changes that they need to make in their life.  An example of this would be if we went out with the kindness of our heart to buy food for someone who is struggling with a drug or alcohol addiction.  By doing this we actually help that person continue on their addictive cycle because now they do not need to buy food and can spend whatever money they have for their addiction.  This of course is a flagrant example, but we must discern within ourselves not only our gift, but to whom it is being given and for what reasons.  Love does say no, a lot, and at times such as these, we need to remind ourselves of this.

 In order to truly receive, we must first be willing to give.  Our personal desires tends to grow proportionately with our income.  In order to give we must control our desires, for it is what is given that is truly important.  If one cannot give financially, there is the greatest gift we can give, and that being time.  There are many children and elderly people today who need to know that someone loves them, and when we give our time we give them love and hope.  This can outweigh any financial gift we can ever give, for time is everything.  Happiness is only a by-product of our giving, and the more we give, the happier we become.

 Tithes and/or offerings can be made in all forms of ways, and this giving does not need to be to church as we sometimes think.  Any form of giving with the Spirit of Love is seen as "Tithing" to the Lord.