God clearly show with the woman and the talent and the rich man that it is about intent, and that you are not forced to give more than you have, and that you should give being glad in your heart meaning if it is by force, no.
But if you have riches, then your "intent" is clear, to keep that wealth for yourself, for that by definition is being rich. And no one can really be forced to give, we should give out of Compassion and love for those suffering, but often other emotions come into play as well. We may feel guilty about all we have while others have so little, we may even feel a certain amount of fear that we give so little while the need is so great and what the consequences of that may be. But God sees into our hearts and knows us better than we know ourselves and sometimes guilt and even fear can be the forerunners of good.
And then we have that everyone should put aside each week what everyone have decided in their heart. It is all about the heart. If you give and you don`t want to or hold on to it, what merit does it give you. And what merit does it give you if someone stands and tell you give a certain amount it is the same going nowhere. It is about the heart.
Of course its our personal decision about how much we should give, and that decision will be judged by God alone, for he alone knows everything about us and his alone is a perfect judgement. But one thing is clear, however we choose to define it, the possession of riches is condemned by Christ on many occasions, and what is "rich" will be determined by God, alls we can do is look around Gods world, see the suffering and deprivation of so many, look at what we've got and come to our own judgement, taking into consideration Christs teaching on the subject, just what we should rightly keep and what we should give to those in need.
I think God is talking about moderation. That it is not wrong to ALSO buy something to you, but that it is about moderation. And of course normal needs met etc. But it is what everyone decides in their heart. we all have different circumstances.
As far as i can see it Christ talked little about "Moderation". His teaching was a radical Love and Compassion based on Loving your Neighbour as yourself and treating others as you'd want to be treated. He talked of " Blessed are those that HUNGER and THIRST after Righteousness", Matthew 5:6, He spoke of giving ALL you have to the Poor and following him", Mark 10:21, Luke 12:33, he spoke of "Denying yourself, taking up your Cross and following him" Matthew 16:24 and in the story of Zacchaeus, it is only after Zacchaeus has given nearly ALL his wealth away that Christ pronounces, "today has Salvation come to this house", luke 19:1-10. Turn the other cheek, love your enemies and so many more sayings of Christ illustrate the radical call he has on our lives and it seems to me that "Moderation" is the call of our sinful nature to make our lives easier but further from what Christ calls us to be.
So noone can say to another what they should or should not give but I think the key is moderation in your circumstances. I think it is about doing SOMETHING. what we CAN not what we can`t. You can`t expect to let the poor give money they gonna need for living for example there that is the woman with the talent again. what each can do. If one has a lot of money that is a given, a bigger share.
Each of us, as professed followers of Christ, must come to that decision alone, but it will be a reflection of the state of our heart and faith, as much as the situation we find ourselves in, what that decision will be.
