Reflection:
Have you ever felt rich? Like when you were a kid and got some money that was yours to do with what you wanted.
Margin = Money in the bank with no obligation attached to it. If you have this, you might feel rich. The key to feeling rich isn’t about making lots of money. The key to feeling rich is having a margin. It is also a danger.
If you have been to places with deep poverty, you will feel rich. But, then we come back to the world of high expectations, and that feeling is gone. We are rich by any standard.
Even if you don’t feel rich, we tend to have a migration of hope – from God to stuff – and our hands close, and we stay inward, and try and build a solid house, saving our way to safety. “I will not place my trust in riches, but in Him who richly provides.” Put your hope in the Provider and Giver, not the provisions and what has been given.
How do you keep from migrating, or how do you take it back? Paul says we are to do good (not be good, because we are all supposed to do that), to be rich in good deeds. You are to be an above-average doer of good, if you are rich toward God.
Money gives us options, and that can lead to waste. That is – the tendency when we have extra is to waste it.
An example of how rich you are: Most only have to work 5 days a week and have money enough for 7 days. And within that household, only one person needs to work. That is not the case in most of the world. We are truly blessed and rich by comparison.
Being rich in good deeds means if we are people with extra, extra-ordinary things are expected of you – to be generous and willing to share – because you have more opportunities.
Giving and generosity is not about number of dollars, but about percentages.
We hear of a widow who put two small coins in an offering plate vs. rich people putting great sums in, and Jesus says she is richer toward God. Jesus says zeros on the ends of numbers don’t impress me; percentages impress me. This is what the kingdom of God is about – Jesus says of this widow: “they gave out of wealth; but she out of poverty, put in everything, all she had.”
Bottom line: Rich people should give larger sums and higher percentages. This is being rich toward God for Jesus and Paul.
Choose to live on a percentage of your income; you need to establish that number. Most of us do not know what that number is. Know what you live on, what you save, and what you give away. If you do, you will gain a margin, and you will begin to feel rich, and can do more to being rich toward God. Your hope migrates back to God.
We are a nation of spontaneous givers. We need to PRE-DECIDE what level of income we are going to live on. That is the first step to being rich toward God.
The next step is to PRE-DECIDE what percentage of our income we will give to the church and other places that God calls us to give. This means giving that same percentage, regardless of income, and to make it the first check drawn. In other words, GIVING BECOMES THE PRIORITY IN YOUR WEALTH MANAGEMENT. This includes spending some of your time in church and these organizations as well.
This can lead to your heart being captured by the good you are doing or helping make happen, such as the smile of a child in our Sunday School, or across the street, or in Tanzania.
Churches and charities are beneficiaries because of PRE-DECIDERS, those who are living like they are rich, deciding to do good and be generous, as Paul says to do. It is the way that makes the greatest difference in the worid.
When your heart is captured by your generosity, your hope will not migrate, and you are truly RICH TOWARD GOD.
The next question: How much? Where should you start in percentage giving? The median income level is $50,000; this group gives 6% by accident. We accidently, randomly, sporadically, emotionally, give 6%. How much to give? Why not start at 6%, because that is what most people give without intention.
The four steps to being rich toward God:
- Do more,
- Give more,
- Pre-decide where,
- Pre-decide how much
Now, imagine if every Christian did this, pre-deciding to be rich toward God. What happens is your heart begins to get moved by the giving and you begin to save better and spend less. You also want to eliminate debt because it gets in the way of being rich toward God. Giving redirects your heart, and when your heart is right, it will guide you in all things generous. If every follower of Jesus did this, it would be a game-changer. It could change the world. We would be known not for what we are against, or even what we believe, but for how we love, as seen through our extraordinary generosity. Extraordinary generosity is extraordinarily powerful.
Action items:
Take time this week and work on what Pastor Stanley suggests:
• Find your percentage for living, and stick with it, regardless of income.
• Pick, reaffirm, or increase your percentage of giving to the church and other places, and stick with it, regardless of income.
• Pre-decide these things, because they will be decided for you if you don’t.
Generosity is a choice most of us have to make. What will you do with what you have been given? We can all stand to be more generous in our lives, beyond wealth and finances. It takes work. But, if you do these things, your heart will be right with God and you will be rich toward God, and a generous follower of Jesus, and the world will be better for it.