40acts: Ready to ActSample

Act 29: Commit

It’s time to consider giving your giving an overhaul. As stewards of God’s resources, it’s important that we check in with him from time to time to make sure that our generosity is being channelled in the right direction.   One-off donations are great, but we can also contribute to an organisation’s regular income, enabling them to plan future projects and employ staff with confidence. 

What is committing? Saying ‘yes’ with our whole lives. Deciding on something, and going all in. It’s a powerful thing when our emotions become lined up with our thinking, our thinking with our will, our will with our faith. We live out the prayer of Psalm 86, to ‘unite my heart to fear your name’. 

Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 cut further than any on this topic. He knows the secret thing that pulls many of us away from a wholehearted ‘yes’ to God. ‘No one can serve two masters,’ he says. ‘Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.’ 

Money worry can often hold us back from trusting God completely. We must decide that one has to lead the other, even in the middle of our worry. Today, for example, we might decide to commit to monthly giving to a church, rather than a leftover gift every now and then. We might sign up to sponsor a child until their education is done. Where your wallet goes is where your heart is, and if you want to be known as someone who values deeply, and commits confidently, then let your love for God lead your money. 

For us today, this will take on a bit more urgency than any other people group in history. We are among the most wealthy people to ever have lived on the earth, so the question of what we will do with our money worry is real. When the Bible talks about the rich, that’s not some far-off elite group who don’t look anything like us. How will you organise your giving, today?