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GOD REWARDS GENEROSITY
Joe had a problem, so he took it to his pastor. “Pastor, I’m having trouble tithing these days,” he confessed. “What seems to be the hang-up?” his pastor asked.
“Well, back when I made $50 a week, I tithed $5, which was easy. And when I made $500 a week, I tithed $50, which was okay. But now that I make $5,000 a week, I’m having a hard time. A $500 tithe is a lot of money! Will you pray for me, Pastor?”
“Sure,” said the pastor, “let’s pray! Father, please reduce Joe’s income back down to $500 a week so that he can honor You with the tithe.”
That’s a joke, of course. But it’s a joke that illustrates a common trap people fall into in their thinking about giving to God. It always makes sense to be generous toward God because He is always generous toward us. Actually, He is more than generous in His love toward us—He is extravagant.
I want to show you an account of someone being extravagant in her love toward the Lord:
Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always” (John 12:1–8, emphasis added).
What an amazing story! What a graphic contrast of two hearts. On one hand, we have the heart of Mary and, on the other, the heart of Judas. In essence, we have both generosity and selfishness displayed for us in one incident.
Reading it makes me want to ask some questions: Why did Mary do this? Why did she give such an extravagant, generous gift to the Lord? Three hundred denarii was a very large sum of money—basically the equivalent of an entire year’s wages. Of course, what constitutes a lot of money is relative. What seems like a lot to me may not seem like much to a multimillionaire. But a year’s income is a year’s income, no matter who you are.
So, to get a feel for the magnitude of this gift, think about your gross annual income and imagine spending that amount on some perfumed oil. Now, imagine taking it and pouring it onto someone’s feet. You are never going to get it back. It’s been poured out. All gone! What an extraordinary act. That begs the question, Why?
An additional question comes to mind as I read this passage: Why did it bother Judas so much? It wasn’t his money.
It highlights the fact that wherever you find generosity, you will find selfishness battling for control. It was true in that situation, and it’s true in our own hearts. Each of us has to take a hard, inward look and ask the questions: Am I generous or am I selfish? Which one has the upper hand in my life?
There is a breathtaking selfishness at work in Judas’s heart, and it is manifested in his comments about Mary’s offering. Look again at the Word of God’s commentary on Judas:
This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it (John 12:6).
He didn’t care for the poor. He was a thief! Judas pretended to be thinking about others while he was really thinking of no one but himself. This is a tactic that many others down through history have imitated. It is the oldest cover-up for selfishness known to man. That’s why it all sounds very familiar.
I remember riding in the car with someone and passing by the large, beautiful home of a person who I knew to be a committed Christian and who had prospered by following biblical principles and giving generously.
I pointed out the house to my driving companion and mentioned the owner’s faith. His response was, “Well, he ought to sell that thing and give the money to the poor.” Of course, the person making that comment was living in a house that was nicer than most of the world’s population could ever dream of owning. And guess what? He had no intention of selling his home and giving the money to the poor.
The ugly truth is that he didn’t care about the poor. He just resented the fact that someone had a nicer house than he did. A spirit of compassion didn’t prompt the comment—a spirit of envy did.
This false spirituality manifests itself in several different but similar comments. See if any of these sound familiar: “How could anyone in good conscience drive a car that expensive?” “She sure could have helped a lot of people for what she spent on that coat.” Or my personal favorite: “I could sure do a lot of good with the money they spent on that [insert name of luxury item here].” Remarks such as these are pure selfishness and jealousy dressed up as religious superiority—and it’s ugly.
This is exactly what Judas did that day. He saw a year’s wages being “wasted” instead of passing through his money box so that he could pilfer a good chunk of it. That’s basically how Judas viewed a grateful woman’s beautiful act of sacrificial worship—a waste.
I have often wondered if, at this point, Judas had realized that Jesus had no intention of establishing an earthly kingdom and making him a “big cheese” in it.
If so, and if he was already working in the background with the religious officials who wanted Jesus dead, it’s possible that Judas knew Jesus would soon be killed. In that case, Judas would have assumed that all the money in the box would ultimately be his to keep.
Let me give you a contemporary term for that money box. It’s the offering box! This money box they carried around held the offerings people gave to support Jesus’ ministry. In turn, Jesus would use the money to bless other people—and Judas was stealing from it!
Of course, we think that is outrageous. We can’t imagine anyone having the nerve to steal from Jesus. But think about this: In chapter 3, as we dealt with the subject of the tithe, we saw that God rebuked those who were “robbing” Him “in tithes and offerings” (Malachi 3:8).
Is it possible that just as Judas robbed the Lord by taking out of the offering box, we have been guilty of robbing Him by failing to put into the offering box what is rightfully His in the first place?
I know it sounds hard, but it’s very easy for a Christian to operate much more like Judas than Mary.
I suspect Judas was following Jesus for what he thought Jesus could do for him. As a member of the anti-Roman Zealot Party, he was looking for a prominent position in the new kingdom that would throw off the shackles of Rome. Of course, so were most of the other disciples, as their frequent jockeying for position showed.
But more than anyone else, Judas was hanging out with Jesus based on the What’s In It For Me? (W.I.I.F.M.) principle. And as soon as it became clear to Judas that Jesus wasn’t going to come through in the way he had hoped, he betrayed Him.
Of course, that’s not too different from what many people do today. They follow God out of the W.I.I.F.M. principle instead of being focused on what they can do for Him. And as soon as He “disappoints” them—when He doesn’t come through for them in the way they want—they get upset and quit coming to church.
Selfishness, by its very nature, cares about nothing and no one but self. A selfish person will sell out his or her friends if it will help the person get what he or she wants. And a selfish person will always, always find good reasons not to be generous.
That’s exactly what Judas did. “Hey, don’t blow that expensive perfume on Jesus. We can turn it into cash and give the money to the poor!”
As Judas did, selfishness tries to get the focus off of the selfish one and onto the “extravagance” of others. Selfishness drives by nice houses and criticizes other people’s blessings. Selfishness always looks after self by pointing at someone else.
CONFRONTING YOUR WEAKNESS
Who gave Judas the responsibility of carrying the money box? Jesus, of course. Now, ask yourself, did Jesus know that Judas was a thief when He gave him that responsibility? Certainly! That brings me to another important lesson from this story.
This is a startling revelation for many Christians, but we will always be tempted in the area of our weakness. As a matter of fact, just as Judas—the guy with the weakness for money and prestige—was given responsibility for the money box, God will give you responsibility in the area of your weakness.
Why? you may be thinking. Does God set us up to fail? No! Actually, He’s setting us up to succeed. The only way we can truly succeed is by confronting our weaknesses and overcoming them.
When God gives you some small responsibility in the area of your weakness, He is taking you through a growth process necessary for your success. You see:
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able (1 Corinthians 10:13).
According to the Bible, you have never experienced a temptation that you did not have the ability to resist. We always make a conscious choice to sin. However, God wants to help us turn our area of greatest potential for defeat into our area of greatest victory.
Thus, Jesus gives a thief responsibility for the money and, in doing so, gives him the opportunity to overcome his selfishness and greed. But Judas didn’t do it, did he?
Money is a bigger test than you think. In fact, you are being tested by money right now. It is vital that you understand this truth: The extent of the responsibility you will have in the kingdom is directly proportional to how you handle money.
If you doubt the truth of this statement, take a fresh look at Jesus’ words in Luke 16:
Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? (vv. 11–12).
You are being tested right now. The prize for passing the test is true riches. But, then, what are true riches?
True riches are people—the privilege of seeing those you love saved, made whole, and growing in God. True riches are the words of knowledge, gifts of healing, faith, and miracles that minister to people.
True riches are being able to help others who have spent their entire lives in bondage to depression or oppression experience freedom for the first time. True riches are souls.
I went to college with a really radical guy who had this saying: “It’s going to burn!” We would drive by a really nice house and he would say, “Look at that house! It’s going to burn!” Well, he was right. It’s all going to burn. Heaven and earth are going to be destroyed. It is all going to burn, except for our souls, because souls last forever.
Let me say it another way, heaven is being populated and hell is being plundered by our offerings. That’s why I consider the spiritual act of giving to be so important. When I give, people get saved. God is taking what was unrighteous mammon and redeeming it when I give the first to him. As I give offerings, he’s turning it into true riches—people.
I have a friend who is a missionary and he says it this way, “I’ve never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul.” Nothing from this world is going to the other world, except people. Please know that I don’t want to sound harsh, but I must tell you the truth. God isn’t going to give you responsibility in the kingdom of God or even the house of God if you can’t even handle your finances. He cannot!
As a pastor, I deliberately follow God’s example. This may shock some people, but I will never give a person a leadership position in the church if he or she can’t handle money.
I know I’m going to give an account to God for the sheep in the flock I’ve been charged with leading. The Bible says undershepherds will give an account to the Chief Shepherd (Jesus) about how they cared for and protected the sheep. That’s why I will never delegate responsibility over precious sheep to someone if they can’t even handle personal finances in a biblical way.
Five years ago, I was standing in the checkout line at Walmart. The man in front of me had a few items on the conveyor belt, but there was a bar separating my things from his. As I looked up at him, I noticed he was looking at the breath mints and seemed to be wrestling with something.
After a few seconds, he picked up some Tic Tacs and set them down on the conveyor belt. He then took another bar and put it between his things and the breath mints. Then he turned around, and when he saw me, he just started crying.
He looked at me and said, “Pastor Robert, I have to tell you, I’m a pastor at a nearby church, and I’ve been listening to your series, The Blessed Life. You shared that if we’re not faithful with little things, then who will give us true riches? If we can’t even handle money, why would God give us people?” Then he continued, “I had to buy some things for the church, but I needed some breath mints, and I was wrestling with whether or not I needed to pay for them separately. I knew that even though it was just a dollar, it was not for the church and I needed to be faithful. And then I turned around and saw you standing there! I was actually thinking right before I did this, What would Robert Morris do?”
I told him, “You should get a WWRMD bracelet!” I was joking, of course. I said to him, “You know, it’s amazing that I was standing here, but even if I were not here, God saw it. God sees all things—even the little things.” And I told him how proud I was of him.
We see in Scripture that Mary came to Jesus with a heart overflowing with gratitude and love. That love translated itself into worship through an offering of great price.
In a similar way, we show God each week how full of gratitude and love our hearts are. So ask yourself some revealing questions: What do your offerings say about your heart levels of gratitude and love for God? What does your spending say about what’s truly important to you on this earth?
Judas wanted to keep everything he could in order to build his own kingdom. Mary was willing to give everything she had in order to bless the King.
EXTRAVAGANCE FOR GOD
As I’ve said, there is a battle going on inside each of us. It is a battle between selfishness and generosity, and it is a battle generosity must win.
Let me tell you something about generosity that will help you recognize it when you see it: Generosity is extravagant. One year’s wages came pouring out of Mary’s container that day. Surely, that was an extravagant gift to the Lord. But how do we evaluate what constitutes an extravagant gift today?
Now, before you answer that, let’s just remind ourselves of something. God owns everything. All the wealth of heaven and earth are His, right? Think about Heaven, God’s house, for just a minute. The Bible gives us a description of what it’s like. The streets are paved with gold. Gold is asphalt in heaven! The foundation of the walls are made with diamonds, rubies, and precious stones. And His gates are made of pearl.
This reminds me of the guy who snuck gold bars into heaven. Everyone told him he couldn’t take them with him, but he got them into the casket and snuck them into heaven. When Peter saw him, he said, “Open that suitcase!” The guy opened it up, and it was full of gold bars. Peter said, “You brought asphalt?!” That’s a joke. Obviously, we can’t take anything with us. But my point is God owns everything.
So, what size gift would impress God? Is $1 million an extravagant gift to Him? Is a $100 billion gift extravagant to God? How is it even possible to give an extravagant gift to the God of the universe? How much money could you give that would impress God?
The truth is no amount of money will ever impress God. There is only one thing you can possibly give to God that would constitute an extravagant gift—yourself. You can offer up all you are and ever will be. Now, that’s an extravagant gift. That is really what Mary was doing that day. The perfumed oil was just a symbol—a token—representing the fact that all of her heart was the Lord’s. That was the extravagant gift Mary gave that day.
It’s a gift that a selfish-hearted person like Judas could never hope to give or even understand.
THE LADDER OF GIVING
I’ve been preaching on giving for almost 34 years. But about 20 years ago, I saw something about giving that I had never before seen in the Word. I saw that for the Christian, there are actually three levels of giving to the Lord; I will elaborate shortly, but I will tell you what they are right now.
1. Tithes
2. Offerings
3. Extravagant Offerings
Soon after making what I thought was this breakthrough discovery, I excitedly called a friend of mine, a person with a strong gift of giving—to share it with him.
Over the phone I said, “The Lord has shown me something I’ve never seen before. Did you know that there are three levels of giving?” Very matter-of-factly, he said, “Yes, I did, and I can even tell you what they are.”
I remember thinking, Wrong, Mr. Smarty Pants. I just got this fresh from heaven. I’ve never heard it preached or taught at any time. There is no way you know what I’m about to say. So I called his bluff. “All right, then, what are they?” He said, “Tithes, offerings, and painful offerings.”
He had phrased it a little less delicately than I had, but that was it! He knew! (I should have known that a mature believer who functions in the gift of giving would have already received this revelation.)
Sadly, most believers never even get to the first level. Every study done indicates that only a small fraction of people who claim the name of Christ even tithe consistently.
I find it mind-boggling, but the truth is that most believers struggle with tithing. Are you ever surprised in January, when you get your annual giving record from your church, at the percentage of your gross income that you have given? Most people are. Many people who intend to tithe and think they are, actually aren’t!
As I said, very few believers ever get to the first rung of the ladder of giving; consequently, they never even get a glimpse of the joy, fun, and blessing available at the higher levels.
However, over the years, I have observed that those who do get to the first level usually move on to the next one. Why? Because tithing removes the curse and opens the windows of heaven over us. So, if we ever start tithing, we’re much more likely to start giving offerings as the Lord leads us.
Nevertheless, very few Christians will ever reach the third level of giving to the Lord—the level of extravagant giving—and this is a tragedy. I’m so saddened when I think about the fact that so many believers will never taste the joy of giving an extravagant offering to the Lord. But you can, just as many of the most remarkable figures of the Bible did.
For instance, King David gave an extravagant offering to the Lord to pave the way for the building of the Temple by his son Solomon. Do you know how much of his own money David set aside for the building of the Temple? Converted to today’s currency, it would be $21 billion. That’s an extravagant gift, even for a king.
Here’s another of the Bible’s extravagant gifts: David’s son Solomon became known around the world as extremely wise. Do you remember how Solomon received that wisdom? (See 1 Kings 3.)
Solomon had just been set in as king. According to tradition, he was supposed to go offer an offering to the Lord. He was to sacrifice a bull. On the appointed day, do you know what Solomon did? He sacrificed 1,000 bulls.
Can’t you hear his advisors? “Uh … listen … we know you’re new and everything, but … uh … didn’t you know that you are only supposed to offer one offering? But, hey, we know you’re excited, so if you want to get extravagant, why not sacrifice 10 … or even 100? But 1,000? Think about it, Solomon … we’ll be here all night!”
Solomon personally gave 1,000 bulls that day. And that night, God came to him and said, “Ask anything, and I’ll give it to you.”
Do you know why God said “Ask anything of Me”? It is because Solomon had demonstrated that his heart was generous, not selfish. Solomon was a giver.
I can assure you that a person who is not a giver at the highest level is not likely to have God come to him and say, “Ask anything.” He can’t, because He hasn’t had the opportunity to do a work in that heart. He could not trust him with the blank check He handed to Solomon.
Let me tell you about another extravagant gift in the Bible. It is one that rivals that of David and Solomon combined. We find it in Luke 21:
And He [Jesus] saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites (v. 2).
That’s right. A poor widow with her offering of two mites made the extravagant gift list because, according to Jesus, it was all she had. It took as much—or more—faith for her to give two mites as it did for David to give $21 billion in gold! It is not the amount; it is the heart. Two pennies constitute an extravagant gift when it is all you have.
Here’s another extravagant gift recorded in the Bible: On a remote hilltop in what would one day become Jerusalem, a man named Abraham prepared to offer up his only, miraculous son (see Genesis 22). I’d call that extravagant.
I’ll give you one even better than that: Not too far away from that hilltop 2,000 years later, God Himself offered His only, blameless Son as a sacrifice for our freedom and lives. I’d call that an extravagant gift. I’d also call that a painful gift.
God is the ultimate extravagant giver. He is generous, and He wants to do a work in our hearts that makes us more like Him.
A PURPOSE FOR EVERY GIFT
As we have seen, the biblical account of Mary’s extravagant gift is recorded in John 12. If you want a little insight into what made her an extravagant giver, you only have to back up one chapter.
Do you remember what happened in John 11? Jesus raised Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus from the dead. One chapter later, Mary gave her most precious possession to the Lord.
Is it possible that the events of chapter 11 gave Mary a new perspective? Could burying her beloved brother, having him lie in the grave for four days, and then suddenly seeing him restored to life at the word of Jesus have changed Mary’s values and priorities? Maybe material possessions didn’t seem so precious anymore.
Getting a glimpse of what Jesus can do for the people we love has a way of doing that for us.
Perhaps our perspective needs to change as well. After all, if you know Jesus, you’ve been raised from the dead yourself.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4–6).
Shouldn’t we have the same perspective Mary had? You see, a generous heart stems from a grateful heart.
Matthew and Mark also record the account of Mary’s extravagant gift. In fact, they depict Mary pouring the oil on Jesus’ head as well as His feet. Mark also records some words of Jesus that John didn’t. After Judas complained about the “waste” of the precious oil, Jesus responded by saying:
She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial (Mark 14:8).
If you recall the details of the crucifixion, you will remember that Jesus’ body was taken off the cross just before the Sabbath was about to begin at sundown. That meant they had to quickly wrap Jesus’ body in cloth and lay Him in the tomb.
There was no time to anoint His body with perfumed oils or spices as they normally would. In fact, it was this problem that a group of women were coming to rectify three days later when they encountered the angels who told them that Jesus had risen (see Luke 24:1–5).
Think about it: The only person on earth who received the privilege of anointing Jesus’ body for burial was Mary. She didn’t know that was what she was doing until Jesus said, “She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial” (Mark 14:8).
Sometimes, when we give obediently and extravagantly at the prompting of the Spirit, we have no idea how significant that gift really is; but God knows. God has a purpose for every gift.
When I think about that truth, I am reminded of some friends of mine. They were newly married, deeply in love, and flat broke—no money, no savings, nothing.
In their first year of marriage, my friend got a surprise bonus check from his job. It was the largest amount of money they had ever seen in one lump sum. To them, it was a huge amount, especially since they didn’t really have anything.
As soon as the initial euphoria subsided, they started sensing that, even though they had lots of needs and plenty of ways to spend the windfall, somehow the money wasn’t for them. (These people have generous hearts.)
They went to the pastor of the church and said, “We don’t know specifically who or what this is for, but we want to give this money.” Then their pastor said, “Yesterday, I met with a widow in our church. I found out they are going to take her house if she can’t come up with a certain amount of money. The amount she needs, to the penny, is the amount of this check.”
God has a purpose for every gift.
UNAVOIDABLE REWARDS
There is one more thing I want you to know about generosity: It is rewarded.
According to Matthew 26, Jesus made an interesting comment after He heard Judas giving Mary a hard time for being extravagant.
But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her” (vv. 10–13, emphasis added).
When Mary approached Jesus to anoint Him with her oil, I doubt she was saying to herself, I’ll bet this is going to make me world-famous. They’ll be talking about this for years! She was just thinking about giving and how much she wanted to express her love for Jesus.
Generosity doesn’t give to receive, but generosity is always rewarded by God. If you give, God is going to bless you. No power on earth can stop it. I’m sorry if that bothers you. You’re just going to have to deal with it. I know you’re just giving to give. I realize you’re not giving to receive. Nonetheless, blessing is the by-product of giving. That’s just the way it is. You can’t get out of it!
To do otherwise, God would have to violate His own nature. God is a rewarder. We saw that in Hebrews 11. Like any good parent, God desires to reward His children.
Remember the friend of mine who annoyingly knew the three levels of giving before I could enlighten him? One evening several years ago, he was going over his bills and finances. Like many people, he uses a computer program to track his spending and account balances. When all his bills were paid, he saw that he still had a very healthy balance in his checking account. With a grateful heart, he prayed, Lord, You’ve really blessed me. It’s amazing to have that much money in my checking account. Thank You. That made him curious about how much money he had in his other accounts.
So he checked his savings balance and saw a very large sum there as well. Once again, he prayed, Lord, You have been so good. Your blessings are just awesome. Thank You.
It made him wonder how much money he had altogether. He looked at his investment account and his retirement account too. Then he added everything up and got a number.
As he went to bed that night, he knew in dollars and cents exactly how much cash he had, and it was an amazing amount of money. He drifted off to sleep that night with his heart full of thanksgiving and wonder.
The next morning, as he was praying in his quiet time, he heard the voice of the Lord ask him, “How much money do you have?” Immediately, he thought, Uh-oh. I’m in trouble now. I never should have added up those accounts. Counting got King David in trouble too!
Of course, he knew, to the penny, how much money he had. He had gone to a lot of trouble the night before to find out his net worth. Although he knew better, he tried to weasel. “Well, Lord … uh … What do You mean? … Do You mean how much money do I have in my wallet?” Again the question came, “How much money do you have?” My friend responded, “How much do I have in my checking account? Is that what You mean?” The question came again, “How much money do you have?”
Finally, he said, “Lord, You know I added it up last night. This is how much money I have,” and he quoted the figure. Then the Lord said, “Would you give it to Me?”
At that point, my friend said that he had a moment of disbelief. This can’t be happening. This is unbelievable. God is asking me to give away all the money I’ve spent the last 20 years accumulating. But then remembering, as people with the gift of giving are likely to do, that it all belongs to God, he felt an overwhelming sense of joy and excitement rise up within him. It was unspeakable joy. “Lord,” he responded, “I would love to give it to You.” And so he did it. He gave away every penny that he had as the Lord led him.
Over the next 12 months, God blessed his business to a degree that he had never seen before. One year after giving away all the money he had, this man had more than what he had given. In that one year, he accumulated more than he had in 20 years of hard work and saving. Every account was not only replenished but had grown. What took him 20 years to do, God did in only one. Generosity toward God is always rewarded.
WHEN YOU GIVE EXTRAVAGANTLY
Let me close this chapter by telling you what almost always happens when the Spirit of God speaks to you about an extravagant gift.
The first step in giving an extravagant gift to the Lord is hearing. You don’t give extravagant gifts out of your own thinking or planning. You need to hear God.
Hearing from God isn’t hard or complicated. The Spirit wants you to know God’s will and ways. He is always speaking. The voice of the Spirit is rarely a loud or booming voice. It’s usually a very soft impression. And, frankly, you can talk yourself out of it.
The second phase is excitement. Once you hear from God about a significant gift, it’s natural to get extremely excited. This excitement doesn’t last indefinitely, however.
It almost always gives way to phase three: fear. Like my friend, you are most likely going to have thoughts that shout: This is crazy! This is absolutely crazy! The fact is that almost everything in the Christian life seems crazy to the natural mind.
After fear, comes phase four of giving an extravagant gift: logic. In the logic phase, you’ll start thinking of lots of reasons you shouldn’t do what you’ve heard God say. You will think of lots of alternative plans and programs.
Do you think Abram had to wrestle with logic when God asked him to offer his son Isaac? Do you think logic might have had a thing or two to say to Peter before he stepped out of that boat?
I’m not saying logic is wrong. I am saying that if logic says one thing and God’s voice says something else, God’s voice wins.
Invariably, after logic comes doubt. Did I really hear God correctly? Maybe that was just my overactive imagination. What if it was the devil?!
The devil always overplays his hand because, at that point, you can ask yourself, Would the devil really try to get me to give money to the preaching of the gospel so that more people will get saved? I don’t think so!
That’s when you move into the final phase leading up to an extravagant gift: faith. Once you get back to faith, the excitement returns, and that’s when you can follow through and obey.
Ask yourself this question: Am I generous, or is selfishness still the dominant force in my heart?
How much of you does God have? Does He have all of you? Does He have your dreams? Your desires? Your possessions?
God wants to do a work in our hearts. He wants to make us generous.
BLESSED LIVES
“My husband and I had been praying about the amount we were to give above and beyond our tithes for the coming year. I had a number in mind, and as I was praying a few days later, a higher number was given to me. The numbers were the same, but another zero was added. A few days later, I asked my husband if he had been given a number yet, and he said, ‘Yes.’ Then he asked if I had. I asked what his number was, and he was hesitant to give it to me so we began the guessing game! Finally I said, ‘Let’s both write our numbers down, then at the same time show each other.’ We did, and the numbers were exactly the same, to the penny! That was our confirmation. There was a sense of excitement in both of us. We were also kind of shocked. What a neat experience. The very next day at work we were notified of a bonus. The bonus was four times the amount we were told to give!”
Brenda and Tim Ward