Giving to God, not the Church

The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they'll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford—she gave her all. Mark 12:43-44

One of the least favorite times of year for many church-goers and pastors is stewardship season. We hear things like: "all the church cares about is money" on the one hand or "let's help the church pay its bills" on the other. The truth is that giving is not about the church at all, money is a spiritual issue that must be discussed and when it is avoided contributes to the spiritual shallowness the pervades our culture.

Jesus talked a lot about money and the power of wealth to lead people away from God. He talks about it a lot because it is such a seductive and alluring threat to our relationship with God. Coming to a spiritual understand of money is absolutely essential to becoming a follower of Jesus. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Luke 12:34)

For me, giving generously is really very easy. I suppose it is a spiritual gift not to be overly concerned with nice things or needing to keep up with the Joneses. Once I decided to tithe I have found great joy and peace in giving. I have learned to trust that God will provide and so there is no reason to not to give fully. It has been a blessing and I continue to find ways to try to out give God (as they say) but God continues to bless me.

For others I know giving is much harder. I have had people tell me they give my giving their time or that they simply cannot give right now or as much as they would hope. While I do have compassion for those going through tough times the story of the widow reminds us that everyone can give generously. We all must begin to think differently about our money and posessions.

Once we understand them as a gift from God, a gift which does not belong to us, it frees us to give knowing God will provide. I suggest to those at the beginning of their giving journey to start out giving a percentage of your income. Don't try to start at 10% but work up from 2 or 3%. Rather than giving an arbitrary amount (20 or 50 dollars a week) take your check stub and calculate a percentage.

As you learn the joy of giving you delight in your ability to give generous and be motivated to give more and you will be blessed along the way!