Honour the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your
crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim
over with new wine. Proverbs 3:9-10
So how have your crops been over the last year or two? Are your barns filled to overflowing, your vats brimming with high quality wine?
Mmm, probably not. Times are hard, what with the banking crisis, the economic recession and “austerity”. Many people are finding it hard to make ends meet. Students are stoking up mountains of debt, and many able and gifted people are unable to find an outlet for their talents in the jobs market.
And yet... we in the western world are rich! - certainly, at least, in comparison with millions of our fellow human beings. And so the plea of the writer of Proverbs to "honour the Lord with your wealth" still applies.
Verses like this bring home to us a basic Christian principle - that, just like everything else about our lives, our finances should be under the lordship of Christ.
So how have your crops been over the last year or two? Are your barns filled to overflowing, your vats brimming with high quality wine?
Mmm, probably not. Times are hard, what with the banking crisis, the economic recession and “austerity”. Many people are finding it hard to make ends meet. Students are stoking up mountains of debt, and many able and gifted people are unable to find an outlet for their talents in the jobs market.
And yet... we in the western world are rich! - certainly, at least, in comparison with millions of our fellow human beings. And so the plea of the writer of Proverbs to "honour the Lord with your wealth" still applies.
Verses like this bring home to us a basic Christian principle - that, just like everything else about our lives, our finances should be under the lordship of Christ.
To "honour the Lord with your wealth" means, in essence, being
generous in our giving to Christian ministries and other worthwhile causes.
God doesn't expect us to give what we are unable to give, so there
should be no guilt for those who are genuinely pressed. But, equally, the Bible
is never squeamish about talking about money, and how we should handle it in a
responsible and Christian way. Remember the widow and her tiny offering (Mark
12:41-44); remember Barnabas and his field (Acts 4:32-37); remember the woman
with the jar of perfume (Matthew 26:6-13). And remember, of course, the sad
story of the rich young man (Matthew 19:16-24).
Our western world is obsessed with getting - we in Britain have just experienced the nastiness and indignity of “black Friday”, where near-riots have broken out in super-markets as people have literally fought for their chosen item. And Christmas is just round the corner, when millions of us will be fooled into spending money that we don’t have on goods that nobody needs.
Our western world is obsessed with getting - we in Britain have just experienced the nastiness and indignity of “black Friday”, where near-riots have broken out in super-markets as people have literally fought for their chosen item. And Christmas is just round the corner, when millions of us will be fooled into spending money that we don’t have on goods that nobody needs.
We are brainwashed into thinking that the more we have the more
important and successful we are, and the more happy we will be. All nonsense,
of course. The Bible's angle is precisely the opposite - not getting,
but giving. Jesus is reported to have said that there is “more happiness
in giving than in receiving”. (Can you locate that text, by the way?)
Is it time some of us had a hard look at our giving? - time, perhaps, to consider the biblical principle of "tithing", which means giving to God a tenth of our income?
Is it time some of us had a hard look at our giving? - time, perhaps, to consider the biblical principle of "tithing", which means giving to God a tenth of our income?
Tithing never appears in the new Testament, but if it was good enough
for God's Old Testament people - people who never knew God's grace in sending
Jesus - how much more should we who know Jesus want to give! Many Christians
treat tithing as a starting-point, a minimum, and I think they've probably got
it about right.
But where should we direct our giving? Well, that is for each of us to decide prayerfully before God. But as a guideline I would suggest this. First and foremost, to the local church; second, to a recognised Christian missionary organisation; third, to another charity which seeks to alleviate the suffering with which our world is filled. There's plenty of organisations to choose from! - and some of them are currently threatened with closure because of the economic situation.
It's interesting that the Proverbs verse says that there is a real connection between being generous in our giving, and receiving blessings from God: if we honour the Lord with our wealth, then our barns will be filled. Paul puts it perfectly in 2 Corinthians 9:6: “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously”.
But where should we direct our giving? Well, that is for each of us to decide prayerfully before God. But as a guideline I would suggest this. First and foremost, to the local church; second, to a recognised Christian missionary organisation; third, to another charity which seeks to alleviate the suffering with which our world is filled. There's plenty of organisations to choose from! - and some of them are currently threatened with closure because of the economic situation.
It's interesting that the Proverbs verse says that there is a real connection between being generous in our giving, and receiving blessings from God: if we honour the Lord with our wealth, then our barns will be filled. Paul puts it perfectly in 2 Corinthians 9:6: “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously”.
This isn’t laid down as a hard and fast rule: sometimes God’s faithful
people are called on to suffer real hardship. But as a general principle it is
sound, and we need to get it into our heads: if we are generous with God, he
will be generous with us.
Oh, and let’s not forget... the joy of giving
applies not only to money. What about the giving of time and talents, of
hospitality and compassion?
Lord and Father, save me from any tendency to be mean-spirited or tight-fisted - or simply anxious about your provision for me. Teach me the joy of sacrificial giving, for the building of your church, the spreading of your love, and the glorifying of your name. Amen.
Lord and Father, save me from any tendency to be mean-spirited or tight-fisted - or simply anxious about your provision for me. Teach me the joy of sacrificial giving, for the building of your church, the spreading of your love, and the glorifying of your name. Amen.
Do you have
any thoughts to share regarding the best way to organise your finances?
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