How does one measure "excellence" in giving money? I know that there are "other ways" to give besides money, but this passage speaks of the money-way to give. We Christians are not commanded to give ten percent as the Jews were. But in light of the "better promises" of our New Covenant over the Old Covenantof the Jews, giving less than the ten percent that they gave seems disproportionate. Having said that, the example of the Macedonians who gave out of their " extreme poverty" and "more than they were able" makes ten percent seem modest by comparison.