I thought these cartoons were comical but illustrated some serious truths about who we are as givers. How are you with giving? Are you a 10% giver…5%…give what is left-over? Or are you one of those (I was guilty) that says, “I will give more to God when I get in a better financial situation.” So what if you died tomorrow and God looked at your giving? Would he be satisfied? I am not one of those who says the more you give the more you will receive (since salvation and grace has no price on it) but I am also not one of those who thinks we should sit back and let our money and possessions rot in the bank! Francis Chan wrote, “If you really want to experience God’s supernatural provision, then do as He says. Test Him (cf. Mal. 3:10). Give more than you can manage, and see how He responds” (Crazy Love, p. 110). God hates leftovers don’t you? Why are we so thoughtless when it comes to what we give to God? Why are churches not meeting the budget when they should be exceeding every number given by an eldership? Why is many churches (not all) are not meeting the needs of people but secular organizations are? What does that say about the church? We are in bad economic times but I guarantee you that if you are reading this post you have more money than 75% of the world!
What if we lose our savings? You just might have to trust in God then! Is that a bad thing?
What about our financial portfolio? It better have God in it!
Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers. (Chan, Crazy Love, pp. 114-15).
Yesterday I cancelled my membership to the YMCA ($30 a month), and my Dish Network service ($56.50 a month) and I am fighting with Verizon to reduce my coverage. This is not to snowball more debt (even though that is needed), nor is it to provide for the kids’ college (that is a concern) or to save for a bigger house (1100 sq. ft. is pretty small for 6 people) but it is to give back to God what is HIS already! I am not trying to judge your situation either as memberships to the Y are not bad nor is having dish network inherently evil. I just think we could do better by giving more until it hurts. We may never get another house and we may not climb out of debt until we are 50 but when I appear before God in judgment I want him to look at me and say, WELL DONE, ROBBIE! YOU WERE A FAITHFUL GIVER AND WE DID A LOT TOGETHER!!! WELL DONE!!! ENTER IN TO THE JOY I HAVE PREPARED FOR YOU! WELL DONE!!!
Give…
Give…
Give…
Until it hurts!!!
Robbie Mackenzie 
Right on, bro!
I agree with you Robbie, we (here in good ole USA) or pretty well off. We all do what we want to do most of the time. We live in luxury most of us and we eat out all the time, that was not possible how come you have to want in line to eat. The economy maybe bad but the resturant business is not hurting and Walmart is not hurting but the church is ….it doesn’t make sense. We could all benefit from this lesson.
Well said!!!!!
Great post! Everyone I am sure can relate to this, but your thoughts definitely speak to me. I most certainly can see what I should be doing instead of what I want to do… I love the quote from Malachi, I can say I have never really had enough faith to try it that hard. I want to test God! Thank you for sharing!
I believe and try to live it and we got to teach it
Have you ever think of creating an e-book? I have a website based on the same subject and would like to share some stories. I know my subscribers would enjoy your work. If you’re in, feel free to shoot me an email.
Thanks for the encouragement. I want to write a book someday but feel God wants me to wait. Blessings on your work.