A Stewardship moment in July

God doesn’t need your Money!                                                                                                                                             -from David Plunkett, Stewardship Committee

A joke: A country preacher, a city preacher, and a TV preacher were talking about how they are paid. The country preacher says, “I draw a circle on the ground and toss all the money in the offering plate up in the air. What lands in the circle is my pay and the rest belongs to God.” The city preacher said, “I do something similar, but I draw a line on the ground. Everything that falls on this side of the line is my pay. Everything that falls on the other side belongs to God.” The TV preacher tugged the sleeves of his Armani suit over his diamond cuff links, straightened the collar of his silk shirt, and smiled. “Well, I do you two one better. I toss the offering up in the air and shout, ‘Here God keep what you want.’ What he doesn’t keep is mine to spend.”

Like the preachers in the joke we tend to give randomly or on an “as needed” basis.  “When God needs some of my money I’ll give it.”  What we fail to see is that this kind of giving is as misguided as the joke above.  First, God does not need anything from you.  The Scriptures tell us that it is all God’s anyway:

“I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,
for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.”
Psalms 50: 9

If God doesn’t need or want our money, then why do we give? The answer is simple, our gifts to the Lord reveal the condition of our hearts and our commitment to His Kingdom work.  In other words, we give to the Lord out of love and gratitude for all He has done for us.  It is a recognition that all we have is the Lord’s and it is a privilege to be able to give back to Him.  Actually, it is an act of worship!  In Psalm 50 (Quoted above) God is addressing the people’s wrong attitude about their gifts.  They thought the were doing God a favor and they missed the point.  The Psalm says in verse 7;

“Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you:
I am God, your God.
I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices
or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.”

As Christians we know something the TV preacher apparently has forgotten. It’s only when we give from the heart that we honor God. That is what the Israelites forgot, too.  No, God does not need your money.  He wants your heart and when He has your heart giving will follow…it is the law of love.

The psalmist ends with a promise about the fruits of faithful giving:

“He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me,
and he prepares the way
so that I may show him the salvation of God.” (verse 23)