Texas District

I enjoy personal and organizational financial planning and take pride in managing financial affairs well in order to make the most of the resources available. When I think about stewardship, first and foremost in my mind is God’s call to be wise and faithful managers. Yet within the realm of stewardship lies a practice that runs against the grain and can almost seem contradictory and foolish. This is the practice of generosity.

 

Generosity is freely giving resources away without any expectation of return or personal benefit. Biblically, we understand that generosity included sharing resources in common with other members of a local church; giving cheerfully to missions; tithing (giving a tenth of one’s increase) to the local community of worship; and caring for the poor, the hungry, the orphans, and the widows. In our human way of thinking, it doesn’t really make sense to give away that which we “worked hard for” or at least worked hard to manage well. But in God’s economy, generosity is a key practice in a faithful, trusting walk following Jesus as his disciples.

 

Years ago, I attended church men’s group where a member of my congregation shared something profound. When we were talking about tithing, he shared that he believed that God chose 10% completely on purpose to develop our trust in God. He reasoned that had God called us to give a smaller percentage, our human self-reliance would likely kick-in with the Devil leading us to think we could “handle it” on our own. But this isn’t the case with a call to give 10%. The call to tithe compels us to trust God. It is too much for us to do apart from trusting God each day to give us our daily bread. The spiritual discipline of generosity helps to break us from our sin of self-reliance.

 

There are many other good things that come about when we practice generosity. Another that comes to mind is how God tends to multiply our offerings, sometimes in miraculous ways. Consider the story of the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus took the gift of one boy’s lunch and then instructed the disciples to be generous with it and share the food with the crowds. In their faithful generosity, the Lord multiplied the small offering and created an abundance that to this day still amazes us. But this is what God does with our generosity.

 

Friends, I would like to encourage you to be good stewards and manage your financial affairs with wisdom and faithfulness. And I also invite you to consider anew Jesus’ call to the spiritual discipline of generosity: Tithe to your local church, give cheerfully to missions and causes that align with your faith, and care for the basic human needs in your local community and beyond as the Lord gives you opportunity.

 

Giving Tuesday is December 2, a day dedicated to celebrating and encouraging generosity. This is a great time to make new commitments to grow in generosity. If you would like to contribute to the mission of LCMC Texas District or Harvest Workers, go to www.lcmctexas.org/giving-tuesday to find out how to double your donation.