Giving Matters

Money is important.  There.  I said it.  It's the elephant in the spiritual room.  Somewhere along the way I was taught to feel bad about my love for money.  Something about Jesus saying that the love of money was the root of all evil.  Then I discovered that to be the most misquoted verse in the Bible.  What Jesus actually said is that "mammon is the root of all kinds of evil." Big Difference.  For one thing, "mammon," means a lot of things, including money.  And secondly, there's a grand canyon difference between being "the root of ALL evil," and being "the root of all KINDS OF evil."  Two words (kinds of) changes everything.  Those two extra words signify that money is not the main problem.  We are.

Back to my original point.  Money is important. And I finally don't feel bad about saying that. No sir, no more feeling guilty about it.  Money IS important because of what it represents.  It represents my life energy and my life's work.  Therefore, it should be important.  And because God is the one who gives me my life energy and the one who has called me (and all of us) to our life's work, it stands to reason that all of it is HIS.

My family is in the process of looking for a house.  Our children are now at the age where they are a lot more involved in the decision.  We have had discussions, in the process, about what we can and cannot afford.  There are two lessons they have learned as we approach this important decision:

1. We could buy a lot more house if we weren't giving God 10% of everything.
2. Financial issues are a very private matter.

We have had to say, "no" to a lot of houses because we refuse to use God's money to buy them.  And we have had to remind our children that our family's finances are a private matter.  In other words, don't go around telling everyone how much money we do or don't have.  I think they understand. We'll see (holding my breath).  Well ... money is a very sensitive and private matter.  Paul said, "God loves a cheerful giver."  Therefore, it can never be given under compulsion.  What you do with the money God gives you to work with is none of my business. Nor is it the business of the church.  It's between you and God.

But the Biblical principle that governs how you take care of your money IS the business of the church.  It is the spiritual mandate of the leadership of the church to teach its members the Biblical principles of giving to God.  If we didn't do that we would be negligent in our spiritual duties, and we would be doing you a disservice.  I believe that no church membership can experience the fullness of the glory of God if its members are not taught the Biblical princples of giving to God.  In fact, I believe that a body of Christ that is not practicing those principles is on the way to death.  And I pledge to never let us forget it.
.