An Honest Evaluation: Money (Giving V)

What does giving look like in your life? Where and how are you giving your time? Your energy? Your other resources?

Let’s get more concrete: what are you doing with your money?

Martin Luther purportedly said there are three conversions for a follower of Jesus: conversion of the mind, conversion of the heart, and finally, conversion of the wallet.[1] One reason that Jesus talks so much about money is because what we do with our money reveals the posture of our hearts.[2] The transformation of our financial life reveals, and perhaps most clearly, the transformation of our hearts. Money represents safety, security, and the ability to try to craft the life we want. The action of surrendering our money—thus directing it to uses beyond our own security and comfort—represents a surrender of power; it means choosing to replace our own means of control with a marked trust in the generosity of God. So when the Scripture tells us to use our resources not only to provide for our family but also to provide for the poor and to support our church and other churches, it’s an invitation to practice a life of trust at a most intimate level. By investing our money in others, we move our focus off of ourselves and we surrender some control over our lives. This can be scary, but it’s one of the surest ways to open the doors of your heart and life to God. No wonder what we do with our money matters so very much!

Think about the last month and consider how you have used your money. The Scripture makes it clear that money is a gift from God to be stewarded generously; we are to provide for our family, give to our spiritual family, and help to provide for those in need.[3] Have you done this?

Are you arranging your life around the principles of generosity first, in the spirit of the words of Malachi?[4] And in the spirit of sacrificial—and not just easy—giving? In other words, are you giving in a way that you feel the cost of it?

I often think of a story from my community of faith. When I became pastor, we had very little money and very few people. I tell people that I would have been terrified if I hadn’t been so green, but it just seemed normal to me at the time, so I rolled with it. The blessing of ignorance. We were a payroll cycle or two away from having no money to pay anyone on staff, myself included, and we had a huge lease hanging over our head. About this time, our governing elders, who are responsible for the spiritual direction and practical oversight of our community, made a decision. They had looked at our numbers and saw that we, as a community, were giving away less than ten percent of our total income to other churches and to those in need. Let me say that I’m not someone who believes we are under a law to give a tenth of our income away, but I’m also inclined to think we are called to give away a lot more than that![5] I was also inclined to think it was unwise for our community to be giving less than ten percent, since that number is so important in the story Scripture tells. This was the orientation of the elders, too, and they made a beautiful decision that—despite the fact that we had almost no money in the bank—we were going to immediately start giving at least ten percent of our income away. Beyond that, we decided to restore salaries that had been cut during the previous year, to support our staff members and honor the work they were doing. It was a glorious, faith-forward, trusting decision.

Seven years later, our community is in a very different place. In fact, it was only a short time before we were in a better position. It’s not that we were suddenly flush with cash or that it’s always been easy financial sailing, but rather that we have continually seen everything we’ve needed provided. I’m not saying that the elder’s decision caused the provision (but I’m also not not saying that). I absolutely believe that the elders’ open-handed action unlocked provision—water in the nozzle—that was ready to be unleashed. And I credit our elders for their trusting posture of faith that expressed itself in clear, unmistakable action.

Let me ask you, then: When’s the last time you trusted God, “putting Him to the test?” What would it look like for you to do that with your money? Where can you press into your generosity with joy, knowing that God loves our cheerful giving and that it’s more blessed to give than to receive?[6]

For all of these readings in one place, order my book 'Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus.'

[1] While this quote is often attributed to Luther, the actual quote is probably anonymous.

[2] Matthew 6:21.

[3] An echo of three-fold division in “Mission is Not Too Big: Three Categories of People” in ‘Chapter 2: Ambassadorship and The People Jesus Gives Us to Love.’

[4] The spirit of giving our first fruits, not our “whatever I have left” fruits.

[5] For some, ten percent is a starting point. It’s hard to imagine that, in the Age of the Church—which is the Age of the Spirit, marked by the boundless generosity of God—we would be either required or restrained by a percentage. Rather, the invitation of the New Testament is to give abundantly and sacrificially out of all we have, which may far exceed ten percent. Cf. Paul in 2 Corinthians 8:11-12: “Give in proportion to what you have. Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.”

[6] 2 Corinthians 9:7, Acts 20:35.