"Giving Isn't for the Weak "
Three boys are in the schoolyard
bragging about their fathers. The
first boy says, "My Dad scribbles a
few words on a piece of paper, he
calls it a poem, and they give him
$50."
The second boy says, "That's nothing.
My Dad scribbles a few words
on a piece of paper, he calls it a
song, and they give him $100."
The third boy says, "I got you both beat. My Dad scribbles a few
words on a piece of paper, he calls
it a sermon, and then it takes eight
people with big dishes to collect
all the money!"
Well, we all know, it’s not the sermon,
the big dishes, or the eight
men who make the money come
into the church. It’s people who
are responding in gratitude to
God’s amazing grace in their lives.
Our Reading Through Your Bible
This Year Plan took us through the
book of Job this past week.
I was reminded that though Job
was a generous man he lost everything.
Everything he owned, all his
children, even his health was taken
away from him. He was hard
pressed to find any of God’s amazing
grace in his life to respond to.
Nor did he have anything left to
respond with!
Dr. Stephen Olford, in his book, “The Grace of Giving,” says, "We
must not expect to be untested in
this act of faith (being givers). The
patriarch Job gave generously to
God, and to the poor, but for a
time, he was stripped of everything.”
Satan works hard to convince us
that giving to God is a discouraging
exercise of futility. Some who
decide to bring God a tithe of their
income and give Him offerings
also, are surprised to find that their
financial pressures do not disappear.
They, in fact, may get worse.
Giving was never meant to be
easy. It is meant to be a test of
trusting God no matter what. And
God will honor such an attitude of
giving. Just like He did with Job.
Job’s losses were temporary. “So
the Lord blessed Job in the second
half of his life even more than in
the beginning” (Job 42:12).
If our motive for giving is to trust
God anyway, we’ll keep those
eight men carrying big dishes of
money to God’s treasury, from
where He is willing to do His work
through our ministries.
“Money is a good servant but a
bad master.” (H.G. Bonn)
--Pastor Ivan Blake |
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