Oh my. My three guys spoiled me all weekend. Well, except Saturday night from midnight to 4 am when both the little guys were sick out both ends. Poor babies.
But they sent me away for alone time. (Chose Barnes & Noble for that, of course.) Made me such such such special cards. They plan to take me out when no one is puking and no one is on a spending fast. And I had a lovely dance with my man in our garage last night as the rain rushed down a few feet away on our driveway. Such contentment.
Anyway, want to get right back into it. I’m afraid this evening’s topic will be a bit…unpopular. Giving to God’s Kingdom versus just padding for our own kingdoms or queendoms.
I know. But we’ll press on anyway. Because we’re friends.
“Someone once told me, ‘God says not to give if you can’t give cheerfully, so I don’t give!’
God wants us to be cheerful, yes, but He also wants us to be obedient. The path of cheerfulness is not by abstaining from giving even when we don’t feel like it. If we’re not cheerful, the problem is our heart, and the solution is redirecting our heart, not withholding our giving. Our heart follows our treasure (Matt. 6:21). Put your treasure in God’s kingdom and a cheerful heart will eventually follow.
Questions to ask about your giving:
– What am I holding on to that is robbing me of present joy and future reward?
– What am I clinging to that makes me feel like I don’t have to depend on You to provide, like I used to before I had this much?
– Is there anything I’m treating as untouchable, as if it were mine and not yours? Do my retirement funds belong to you, too?
– Once they’ve finished college or are working on their own, would inheriting wealth help my children’s eternal perspective and walk with God? Or would it have a corrupting influence on their character, lifestyle, work ethic, or marriage?
– Am I hanging on to money excessively as a backup plan in case You fail me? Is my fear of dire health catastrophes and old-age scenarios creating an inertia in my giving, because I imagine I must provide everything for myself if something goes wrong?
– Considering that the vast majority of people in history and most in the world today have nothing stored up for retirement, am I preoccupied with putting too many treasures in retirement funds? Are you calling me to work without a net – or with less of a net – trusting you’ll catch me in case of a fall?
Saving is a means of not presuming on God. Hoarding is a means of replacing God. When I save, I lay something aside for future need. If I sense God’s leading, I will give it away to meet greater needs.
When I hoard, I’m unwilling to part with what I’ve saved to meet others’ needs, because my possible future needs outweigh their actual present needs. Hence, I fail to love my neighbor.
I agree with Larry Burkett’s assessment of the saving-for-retirement obsession:
Retirement planning so dominates the thinking of Christians who have sizeable incomes that they overkill in this area enormously. The fear of doing without in the future causes many Christians to rob God’s work of the very funds he has provided…God’s Word does not prohibit but rather encourages saving for the future, including retirement (Prov 6:6-11; 21:20) but the example of the rich fool, given by the Lord in Luke 12:16-20, should be a clear direction that God’s balance is ‘when in doubt – give; don’t hoard.’
We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. If we or our children were hungry, would we take something out of retirement to feed them? If so, why wouldn’t we consider doing this for our neighbor’s children? Are we truly obeying the command to love our neighbor as ourselves if we’re storing up money for potential future needs when our neighbor is laboring today under actual present needs?
If we don’t have savings or retirement funds or insurance, is it because we’re consciously trusting God and giving substantially to meet others’ needs? Or is it because we’re lazy, undisciplined, and irresponsible? God honors the sacrificial pilgrim of faith, but he does not honor the lazy fool…
We may choose to have savings accounts, retirement funds, and insurance policies. But if we do, let’s be careful to have only enough to avoid presuming on God but never enough to avoid trusting him.”
Money, Possessions & Eternity, whole bunch of pages
How are you? That’s a lot for one night. Remember how much He loves us and the big plans He has for His Bride in our generation. He is faithful and beautiful and worth it.