On Giving

Our attitude toward giving must not be unlike our attitude toward our faith, toward following Jesus Christ, in general. There is so much to say on this issue, but I am not an expert, and, honestly, since I don't have time to do much research to figure out others much smarter than I have to say, I plan on this being a short, yet hopefully challenging blurb bout giving and stewardship based strictly on what God has done in my life recently.

I recently finished Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman, which, as a good friend of mine pointed out, is a book written every year or more, simply by a different author with a slightly different angle. Essentialy, what Idleman and Platt and Claiborne and so many others are reiterating in their books, sermons, and lives is that faith is not a list of do's and don't's; it's a radical self-denial resulting in abandon-free followship of Jesus Christ. When this happens, Timothy Serafino ceases to be Timothy Serafino, but slowly becomes more like Jesus Christ; He does what Jesus does, how Jesus does it, when Jesus does it; He says what Jesus says when and how Jesus does; He walks, talks, interacts, loves, judges, forgives, challenges, calls-out, extends grace, moves, lives and dies like Jesus. Idleman exegetes Luke 9:23 to demonstrate this point, that as we decide to follow Christ, we move, and lie down our own lives, our own rights, our own preferences and priorities, in pursuit of Jesus Christ.

Laying down our lives... we have nothing. No money. No gifts. No cars. No houses or clothes or food. No talents. No rights. Nothing. Everything belongs entirely to God, bar nothing. When the Spirit has this kind of life-transforming effect on a life sacrificed to God daily, selflessness is the natural bi-product. Not unlike our discussion on community, our discussion on giving needs turned on its head. It's not about giving or stewardship. It's entirely about letting the Spirit take over our lives and change our mindsets toward "our" possessions. It's not enough to give ten percent. It's not enough to give ninety percent if your mindset is religious obligation, legalistic checklist-fulfilling (not that you'd really admit it if that were the case, naturally), or that God now owes you His promised blessing, directly deposited into account XXXXXXX3223. 

Giving is the natural result of realizing that we owe God everything, and He owes us nothing at all. Giving with the expectation of financial or material return leads to bitterness, resentment and disappointment. Giving because the Spirit has overcome your life, and you can't help but return to God what is God's, brings joy and security, even when moths destroy and thieves steal, when cancer rots our bodies, when eyes stop working like they should or when jobs and sources of financial income are gone. When we abandon all to follow Christ, He is always faithful to meet our needs.