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Money Matters: Giving money God’s way
I was crushed. As I was greeting people after worship one Sunday, one of the members came by and said, “Gosh, Pastor, if I had known that this was going to be Stewardship Sunday, I wouldn’t have brought a friend.” Ouch! Was I that bad? Had I made Jesus look bad that day? Had I turned one of a Christian’s most joyful privileges into a joyless duty?
Giving is worship. Giving to God acknowledges him as Maker of all (remember--“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it”), Giver of all (remember--“What do you have that you did not first receive?”), and worthy of our best (remember--“He became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich”).
Giving God’s money back to him is a wanna, not a hafta. “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9,10).
Okay, so how can you honor God with your firstfruits from where you are? Lots of ways! Your home church would be happy to receive a check from you. Some churches even take PayPal payments over the Internet. Or what about this idea: you are going to come into contact with people who have very little in the way of earthly possessions. Show your love for God by showing love to them. As much as possible, let them know why you are helping them.
God is already living in your future, and he is capable of giving back to you faster than you can give to him. Feel the love. Feel the joy.
I was crushed. As I was greeting people after worship one Sunday, one of the members came by and said, “Gosh, Pastor, if I had known that this was going to be Stewardship Sunday, I wouldn’t have brought a friend.” Ouch! Was I that bad? Had I made Jesus look bad that day? Had I turned one of a Christian’s most joyful privileges into a joyless duty?
Giving is worship. Giving to God acknowledges him as Maker of all (remember--“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it”), Giver of all (remember--“What do you have that you did not first receive?”), and worthy of our best (remember--“He became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich”).
Giving God’s money back to him is a wanna, not a hafta. “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9,10).
Okay, so how can you honor God with your firstfruits from where you are? Lots of ways! Your home church would be happy to receive a check from you. Some churches even take PayPal payments over the Internet. Or what about this idea: you are going to come into contact with people who have very little in the way of earthly possessions. Show your love for God by showing love to them. As much as possible, let them know why you are helping them.
God is already living in your future, and he is capable of giving back to you faster than you can give to him. Feel the love. Feel the joy.
Scripture
About this Plan
The experience of serving your country overseas--and sometimes seeing firsthand man’s inhumanity to man--may teach you important lessons about life while turning your stomach at the same time. But recognize that God has an even better way for us to learn life wisdom, a way that continually draws us closer to him no matter how far from family or church we might be. Because of his great love for us, he would much rather make us wiser through words. In this way we wouldn’t be sadder but wiser; we would be wiser and happier. The Bible’s book of Proverbs is an absolute gold mine of wisdom for the daily decisions you must make. It will help you develop your personal values and tune your life’s agenda more closely to resemble God’s.
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We would like to thank Time of Grace Ministry for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: www.timeofgrace.org
