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August 5, 2009
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Being a Rich Giver
About a year ago I began to look at giving records to non-profits such as churches and parachurch organizations. The bulk of gifts don't come from the place you and I might think such as from the wealthy. The overwhelming truth is that people with less money give more often and give a greater percentage of what they have.
As I shared with our church in the How to Be Rich series we have to first come to understand that we are rich people. Even if we don't see ourselves as rich, we are. If we make over $20,000 per year, we are among the top 10% of wage earners on the planet. If the figure is $36,000, then you are in the top 4%. That seems crazy, yet God wants us to see that all we have really are blessings and gifts from Him.
So why is it that we act like and think that what we have belongs to us? Knowing that it all belongs to God makes us give differently. In our case, this began with getting our finances in order (and we are still in the process). Because we have for 15 years used money to serve us rather than serve God, some things had to change. Yeah, we have been tithing and giving for all these years, but we could have given more had we not had debt.
What happens when God's people get their house and their finances in order?
Big things can happen.
God will begin to work in ways we don't expect.
Check out 2 Corinthians 9:7,11.
I want to be the person that God loves. No, I'm not looking to earn God's love through using my money right, but I would like to honor God with all I have. We can't earn God love because we can't earn what we already have. Think about it this way: when we begin to use what we have in the way God intended it to be used, God will make our lives work as He intended them to work. That is less of me and more of Him. Right?
The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives. Deuteronomy 14:23 (The Living Bible)
The purpose of life is to put God first, but that is hard and not very common. This process as well as this teaching series has brought more light to my life and more joy to my days than I thought possible.
One of the things that we did was to give our people a challenge. It is The "90 Day Giving Challenge" where we asked people who were giving to keep on and people who were not giving to begin. If at the end of 90 days they had not seen God work in their lives, we would refund all that they gave. That is a huge challenge, and about 10 families took us up on the challenge. None have asked for a refund.
I am convinced that what we as leaders do is what our people are going to begin doing. One of our gifted leaders reminded me often before last fall that until I was willing to live on a budget that I could not teach others to do the same. Now I understand that truth, and we are watching people begin to win with their money.
Next week I will close out this series with some final notes and a story or two. But I have to say a big thanks to Joe Sangl and to Lifechurch.tv for all that they shared with me to get ourselves on track to use what we have to give God more honor in our lives. Another great series that will get you thinking is the Lost series from Andy Stanley (get it by clicking here). See ya next week!
Michael Harrison has impressed me with his commitment to building the Kingdom through the ministry of the local church. And he has struggled through what that means as it related to personal finances as well as church financial development. He preached a series recently called How to Be Rich. I've asked him to share some commentary on what happened both in and out of the pulpit as he bravely dealt with what some pastors believe to be a four-letter word ... cash. I'm delighted he agreed to share his thoughts. Be sure to check out his blog too.
Related Post:
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Love More ... Expect Less
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Good News & Bad News
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Meet Joe Sangl
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Winning with What You Have
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - The Lie of Riches
Posted by bstroup at August 5, 2009 12:03 PM
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