The thing about Giving

The Lord has struck me recently about giving.

It is an interesting thing, when you set your own salary.

We determine our salary based on what we think we need.

So, what do we do?

I create a budget

I think of what a reasonable salary would be.

The first thing I do, is think of the 10% giving to the Lord… then I consider the obvious big payments like rent, utility bills, phone, transportation, date nights, and of course food. I also have to consider entertainment, clothes, gifts… and then a huge chunk for savings. Really most of our budget is savings… cuz I don’t buy anything… but I want to be able to buy/go whatever/wherever I want. (but I don’t want to buy wasteful things).

Here’s the thing though… it’s easy.

It’s easy to give, when I can set up a salary that covers all my needs.

Sure, I may live modestly. Some couldn’t imagine living on the salary we live on. We have to have someone co-sign because our salary is so little. We get all our money back from taxes.

But, we have been blessed. So many things we just got. Where we live is cheap. Our parents paid for all our schooling. We don’t own a house or have a car payment.

We’re not living in need.

We have enough to give to others.

We give 10%

But this isn’t sacrificial giving.

Sure, a lot of people don’t even give 10%. The average is 3%

But if I have a budget, and I know I can handle the other costs… am I giving by faith? Am I giving sacrificially?

So… what if we not only gave the budgeted amount… but also gave from our other allotted expenses?

What if we spent one month’s clothes budget to help the homeless?

What if we spent some money each month from our food budget to feed someone? You know, I could fast a meal and give that money to someone else.

What if we took some of our money set aside for date night, - to invite someone else over and cook them a meal… or baby-sit someone’s kids so they could have a date night?

What if instead of buying a book for myself, I bought a book for a friend?

And what if I allowed others to use stuff freely- even if it meant it’s come back damaged?

I want to give the Lord my first-fruits… and then I want to give sacrificially after that. Give money, give time, give energy, give resources : for the Lord’s purposes, to honor Him.

The Lord loves a cheerful giver.

And when we give, we become like Christ, and experience Christ more fully. It is a great thing.

(side note: read in “Radical” how a church raised 23 million for a building project, and $5,000 to help Refugees in Sudan… )

We want to give to the local church, we want to give to world missions, and we want to give to help the poor and needy. But in all we want to give by faith, give sacrificially, give cheerfully and give to the Lord!

It is more blessed to give than receive!