A generous person will prosper; the one who refreshes others will be refreshed. People curse the one who hoards, but blessing crowns the one who is willing to sell. Those who seek good find goodwill, but evil comes to those who search for it. Whoever trusts in riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf. ~Proverbs 11:25-28
Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each person should give what he or she has decided in the heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ~2 Cor. 9:6-8
The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously. Those the Lord blesses will inherit the land, but those He curses will be cut off. ~Psalm 37:21-22
Okay, yesterday, we talked about being generous physically and spiritually using the parable of the talents to encourage everyone. No matter how great or small your ability or talent, use it for the kingdom and you will be blessed. Today, there is more to say about generosity, including money. Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:10: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” There is just no way around it. Money has an attraction to the human heart that we really cannot ignore.
I have to admit that money is one of those topics that pastors like to avoid. A lot of that discomfort can probably be attributed to social pressure. One of the accusations brought against the church, by the world is, “They’re always asking for money!” In fact, some of my colleagues and I have had some discussion on-line of late about whether or not to remind people to remember to support their local church. One of the reasons given for not saying anything is because of that accusation. The hope is that now, the church’s reputation will change and be known as a source of help rather than supposed greed. We would prefer to leave the comments to the Christian financial experts, that we hope our congregations are listening too and let us get back to lending a helpful hand and preach about more comfortable topics.
In truth, Christians should not have to be reminded to support the ministry, or, encouraged to give, for the sake of the kingdom. After all, Paul says: “Each person should give what he or she has decided in the heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” However, research does show that less than five per cent of Christians actually tithe. A well known statistic that has been around for years is that 20 percent of the members of a church do 80 percent of the giving.
When the late Larry Burkett, was still alive, he often commented that if all Christians simply tithed, not giving above that, but just tithe, churches and ministries would easily be fully funded, plus, it would enable the Church to go a long way to reduce poverty in people we could reach. In addition, people would be looking to the church for their help rather than the government. And that would enable us to disciple them more effectively as they wonder why we would want to help them.
An aside, I believe the Church has lost a great deal of its influence in society by letting government, and its bureaucracy take care of the poor. That has done a lot to create the entitlement attitude that we now bemoan.
Jesus put His finger on the pulse of our struggle with money when He said: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matt. 6:24-25) Jesus acknowledges that the struggle is real. In fact, there is no other entity that is given the status of potential “master,” over our lives.
Money represents power, control, independence, status, and opportunity. Next to satan, money is God’s main rival as to who we trust with our lives. One of the main reasons that Christian financial teachers encourage followers of Christ to increase their giving is to decrease the potential hold that money has on our lives and hearts. So, today, we are given a list of the benefits of generosity.
Generosity really is a wholistic package that includes our time and talents. There are two ways of getting this out of balance. Some people are happy to give away money. For any problem, they “Throw money at it” so that they don’t have to do any of the work involved or get involved personally. But others, will volunteer time and talents so that they can “keep” their money. Yesterday we focused more on the “talents” side. This devotional is focused on the money side.
A generous person will prosper, be refreshed, will be crowned with blessing, find good will and thrive. A generous person will reap generously, and “God will make all grace abound to you.” We are blessed to be a blessing and we receive blessing when we bless others! “so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
And remember that God loves us to give cheerfully! We have friends, Tim and Helen Smith, who have served as missionaries in the Congo and Equatorial Gini for the past 40 years. Tim loves to describe how the offering is taken up, especially in the Congo. They don’t quietly pass the plate while music softly plays there. Oh no! The plate usually stays up front while the congregation sings and dances with praise and thanksgiving as they joyfully bring their offering forward to place it.
Tim says it can take a long time to collect because everybody is having such a good time in the process. Their offerings are probably considered small by our standards. The Congo is a poor nation. Remember the widow’s mite? Maybe they only have a small amount to give, but they give it with glad hearts. Wouldn’t it be awesome if the American church would be likewise?
God loves a cheerful giver. And Kathy and I are blessed to see how generous this congregation we are now serving is. We saw this right away with how eagerly this congregation got on board with the idea of helping Nailya to purchase a house for her friend in the Ukraine. That was amazing! Watching how many of you care and help with the Good Neighbor Food Pantry, just makes us so grateful. Know that God loves it too.
Finally, let me finish with encouraging words from Paul as if he were speaking to us instead of the Corinthians. Paul was collecting a financial donation to the poor in Jerusalem. We use money to pay the bills that support your ministry to Lake City. “Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there,” (and Kathy and I see that it is), “the gift is acceptable to what one has, not according to what he or she does not have.” (2 Cor. 8:11-13). We won’t be held responsible for what we can’t do, but just like the third servant yesterday, we are called to use what we have just as we are already doing. Let’s keep doing it cheerfully. It makes God smile.
Prayer: I love You Lord! Let that put money in its place! I love being generous! In Jesus name, amen.
Song: Give Thanks
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