Real Hope: GivingShembull

The Motivation For Giving

The Bible is full of the narrative, teaching and theology of giving. St John writes – ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son’ (3:16). God loved and He gave. And so by following this example, we love and so we give.

I remember as a 20-year-old new believer hearing my first message on giving from Luke 6 in June 1970. I determined that on the basis of Jesus’ words I would make this my lifestyle. Fortunately, the cost was low as I was a penniless Agricultural College student at the time.

It did come to mind, however, that I had about $300 in the bank from my grandmother’s inheritance, put aside to go towards an engagement ring for Kathryn. I felt inspired to give $100 of it away as our giving starting point.

Three amazing things followed this decision. Firstly, it helped us to trust God as the foundation of our marriage. Secondly, I received great favour from the college as they requested that I spend three weeks preparing, showing and leading Cyrasa, their champion Polish-bred Arabian stallion, in the Sydney Royal Easter Show Grand Parades and, unexpectedly, they paid me $95 to do so. Thirdly, we gave the money to a missionary not knowing that 20 years later we would spend over six years as missionaries in Thailand supported by the giving of others.

Can you remember where you started on your giving journey, or how and where do you think that you can begin?

Written by JOHN SCOTT