Sorry I'm late, I just didn't have time this morning as I was opening up my first Valentine's gift this morning. Being married SO beats being single!
It's been a great day already. Our bookkeeper brought in a beautiful bag of hershey kisses for everyone, then our Full Throttle person brought us a 1 lb. box of See's nuts and chews. There are chocolate chip cookies and heart cookies in our kitchen at work. I've decided that diets don't count on holidays. Seriously, think of today, Easter, graduations, birthdays, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Why do the guilt thing? Just plunge in and enjoy! Tomorrow it's back to cottage cheese and pinneapple for lunch.
Our daughter has been working the last 2-3 weeks on raising money for WorldVision's 30 Hour Famine to feed hungry children in Africa. The kids raise money, sleep in cardboard boxes at church Friday night, do a canned food drive Saturday morning, feed the homeless, then come back to the church for a soup lunch. They do all this without eating for 30 Hours. Talk about putting your faith where your stomach is!
She set a goal of $1095, which will feed 3 children for a year. She set this goal because she knew it was outside her abilities to raise the money. She had to rely on God to provide. For a quiet, shy girl, she assertively went up to people at church she knew and didn't know and asked them if they would sponser her. She asked teachers and fellow students. She even made an annoucement at the end of Bible class and kids handed over all their spare money.
I had to go to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned (I so dread it, though my dentist and his staff are wonderful, I just don't like being stuck in a chair being worked on). Kristen came with me. First, she hit up the dentist when he checked my teeth. She was blessed with $50! Then the hygenist offered $10 and she didn't even ask her! Then she hit up the receptionist and she gave $5. She went in $90 short of her goal and was now $25 short. Greg took her to a neighbor afterwards and she got another $50. She was over her goal with 2 days to spare!
The thing I loved was how she received the money. When they handed her the money, she looked them in the eye and flashed that straight-toothed $3000 smile and said, "Thank you SO MUCH!" It was so genuine. I was so proud. She treated every donation with the same appreciation.
It's also true love when we give unselfishly. Kristen started her fundraising with her own spending money, all that she had, which as around $17. She's going to give one of her fellow youth group kids $20 towards his goal on Friday out of her own money as he gave her $10 of his own money. It's so cool to watch.
2Cor 9:7 "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
And to tie giving in with love:
1Cor 13:3 "If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
When you give, give cheerfully and not because you're forced to. And always, give with love in your heart.
Showing posts with label Giving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Giving. Show all posts
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Nuggets #34
An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus
More Than Money
Calling believers to a minimum standard of tithing and into exploring the joy of generosity is not a call to legalism but an invitation to freedom.
The sacrifice of time and energy, of unique skills and talents, is the overflow of a spirit of generosity. If people are selfish with money, you'll never get their real contributions.
Because generosity is a genuine expression of the heart of God; it is part of God's radical minimum standard.
When we are afraid that the minimum is an unreasonable maximum, we limit the Spirit of Christ from working in the hearts of those who genuinely desire to be used by him. I am convinced that in every believer, there's a generous heart waiting to be born, and generosity can never be expressed without sacrifice.
Short but sweet today. It grieves my heart to hear Pastors say that they have been asking their congregation to give too often, and pull back from giving them opportunities to give. There are two ways to look at this situation. One is that the Pastor feels his influence is forcing the congregation to give against their will. This sounds more like the lies of the enemy. The other way to look at is that the Pastor has a responsibility to provide opportunities for the Holy Spirit to tug on people's hearts and give them the a wide variety of giving opportunities. Some will feel drawn to give to help the poor, some to missions, others to give generously to the general budget. Where would the church be without generous, obedient givers? It is true that about 20% of the congregation gives about 80% of the funds needed to run the church. This is a sad statistic. You might think mega churches survive so well and do so many great things because they have generous givers. I believe it is because those Pastors are making it normal for the congregation to understand this has to do more with obedience and worship than it does with choice. It's a matter of teaching.
More Than Money
Calling believers to a minimum standard of tithing and into exploring the joy of generosity is not a call to legalism but an invitation to freedom.
The sacrifice of time and energy, of unique skills and talents, is the overflow of a spirit of generosity. If people are selfish with money, you'll never get their real contributions.
Because generosity is a genuine expression of the heart of God; it is part of God's radical minimum standard.
When we are afraid that the minimum is an unreasonable maximum, we limit the Spirit of Christ from working in the hearts of those who genuinely desire to be used by him. I am convinced that in every believer, there's a generous heart waiting to be born, and generosity can never be expressed without sacrifice.
Short but sweet today. It grieves my heart to hear Pastors say that they have been asking their congregation to give too often, and pull back from giving them opportunities to give. There are two ways to look at this situation. One is that the Pastor feels his influence is forcing the congregation to give against their will. This sounds more like the lies of the enemy. The other way to look at is that the Pastor has a responsibility to provide opportunities for the Holy Spirit to tug on people's hearts and give them the a wide variety of giving opportunities. Some will feel drawn to give to help the poor, some to missions, others to give generously to the general budget. Where would the church be without generous, obedient givers? It is true that about 20% of the congregation gives about 80% of the funds needed to run the church. This is a sad statistic. You might think mega churches survive so well and do so many great things because they have generous givers. I believe it is because those Pastors are making it normal for the congregation to understand this has to do more with obedience and worship than it does with choice. It's a matter of teaching.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Nuggets #33
An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus
A Generous Revolution
I think many times what happens is that we teach stinginess by default. We are so afraid to talk about money and touch on issues of giving that we've taught people they can be deeply spiritual and not be generous.l In many ways we have communicated that how we deal with money is irrelevant to our spiritual lives
Each week when we stand before our guests at Mosaic, we give the classic disclaimer, "If you're a guest, please feel no obligation to give today." But every six weeks, when we introduce new members, we explain that that disclaimer no longer applies to them. The reason we can invite our guests not to give is because we as a people openly and unashamedly make the insane and unreasonable decision to give of our own hard-earned money for the cause of Christ through the local church. We believe that the use of money is a deeply spiritual issue and that how you give as an honest reflection of our heart toward God.
Paul described the Corinthian church as generous in their poverty, no generous once they were wealthy. Jesus spoke without reservation about the importance of our relationship to our material possessions. It can't get any clearer than when Jesus tells us we cannot love God and money both, but that we have to decide where to put our treasure.
I've seen a wide variety of people handle giving in a wide variety of ways. Some don't give at all, some give the same little amount every week or two, never increasing it, though their income goes up every year. Some give exactly their 10% of their gross income to the penny, and some their 10% rounded up and give to other causes, such as missions, youth, benevolence, etc. There seems to be a correlation between those who give stingily and the number of financial and other issues present in their lives. This isn't the case 100% of the time, but frequently.
I know this was true in my life as I grew into tithes and offerings. Once I trusted God to provide for me, I learned that I can't out give God. I have no idea how my income increased so much, when I was never promoted. But I did make a mistake. Wanting a promotion, I gave an extra $100, sort of seed faith, hoping God would honor that and give me the promotion. Didn't work. What I was actually doing was trying to manipulate God. "I'll give you this if you give me that." I wasn't giving with he right heart. Giving should be out of gratitude, an act of worship to the one who has given us everything we have, not because we want something in return. I won't make that mistake again.
A Generous Revolution
I think many times what happens is that we teach stinginess by default. We are so afraid to talk about money and touch on issues of giving that we've taught people they can be deeply spiritual and not be generous.l In many ways we have communicated that how we deal with money is irrelevant to our spiritual lives
Each week when we stand before our guests at Mosaic, we give the classic disclaimer, "If you're a guest, please feel no obligation to give today." But every six weeks, when we introduce new members, we explain that that disclaimer no longer applies to them. The reason we can invite our guests not to give is because we as a people openly and unashamedly make the insane and unreasonable decision to give of our own hard-earned money for the cause of Christ through the local church. We believe that the use of money is a deeply spiritual issue and that how you give as an honest reflection of our heart toward God.
Paul described the Corinthian church as generous in their poverty, no generous once they were wealthy. Jesus spoke without reservation about the importance of our relationship to our material possessions. It can't get any clearer than when Jesus tells us we cannot love God and money both, but that we have to decide where to put our treasure.
I've seen a wide variety of people handle giving in a wide variety of ways. Some don't give at all, some give the same little amount every week or two, never increasing it, though their income goes up every year. Some give exactly their 10% of their gross income to the penny, and some their 10% rounded up and give to other causes, such as missions, youth, benevolence, etc. There seems to be a correlation between those who give stingily and the number of financial and other issues present in their lives. This isn't the case 100% of the time, but frequently.
I know this was true in my life as I grew into tithes and offerings. Once I trusted God to provide for me, I learned that I can't out give God. I have no idea how my income increased so much, when I was never promoted. But I did make a mistake. Wanting a promotion, I gave an extra $100, sort of seed faith, hoping God would honor that and give me the promotion. Didn't work. What I was actually doing was trying to manipulate God. "I'll give you this if you give me that." I wasn't giving with he right heart. Giving should be out of gratitude, an act of worship to the one who has given us everything we have, not because we want something in return. I won't make that mistake again.
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