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What would God do if
he had a bazillion dollars? Would he own one huge
house somewhere? Or would he own a number of
houses in prime locations? Would he drive a
Hummer? Or would it be a Mercedes? Or, perhaps
both? How about if God appeared on TV in an
expensive suit and bad hairstyle on his own TV
show; “The Apostle.” Each week he would levy the
judgment “You’re Fired!" on an unworthy apostle.
No need to
speculate.! God has a bazillion dollars.
Actually, God has a bazillion dollars plus much
much more. God has every single dollar there is
plus every atom of creation. It is all of his
making and it is all his and he doesn’t use it to
put on airs. God has almost everything that he
wants… almost everything. One thing that he wants
but he has never had is the heart of every one of
his created human beings. He could cause us to
give him our hearts but then it wouldn't matter.
In order for love to matter, it must be by choice;
not requirement or demand.
If God can provide
anything that he needs then what's all this
business about giving money for the church and for
God's work in the world? God has everything and
we seem to have so little in comparison. It seems
to never be quite enough. There's the rub. It's
not about the money. It's about our hearts.
We read in Psalm
50, "For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the
birds of the air, and all that moves in the field
is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all that is in it is mine. Do I
eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of
goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and pay your vows to the Most High. Call on me in
the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you
shall glorify me." (Psalm 50: 10-15). Giving is to
be thanksgiving to glorify God.
Money and,
possessions… treasure… are the greatest sources of
anxiety for people in our society.
As such, money is an area in which we are greatly
challenged in our ability to trust God. As such,
it is also the area where it is most important for
us to trust God. With trust lacking in even one
area of our lives, our love for God is incomplete.
The earth is the
LORD's and all that is in it, the world, and those
who live in it (Psalm 24:1). We watch the stock
market. We watch our investments. We keep our
eyes focused closely on the economy. But we worry
over the wrong economy. The economy we monitor is
of humankind's making. The economy that matters
is God's economy.
In God's economy
there is sufficiency. He may not provide
everything that we want, but he does provide
everything that we need. And he alone is the
expert on what we need.
If God wants us to
tithe, and give beyond tithing, giving generously
even when we seem to be at the end of our
resources, then that is what we really need to do. God
knows his economy. He knows that when we give we
are blessed by the giving. It is a conversion of
spirit from fear of the scarcity in humankind’s
economy to thankful joy over the abundance in
God’s economy. He knows that he will not leave us
lacking anything that we need when we give
generously out of whatever meager or mighty
treasure we may have. And it is not that God
suddenly releases treasure in response to our
generous giving. It is we who free our own spirits
to see the abundance that God provides us and use
it joyfully.
Why doesn't God
just provide for his work in the world and for his
churches? Simple. He is providing each of us the
gift of an opportunity. He is providing an
opportunity clearly identified for us to show our
love for him and to glorify him. He is giving us
the opportunity to chose between the fear of the
scarcity in humankind’s economy and the gift of
freedom in believing the promise of God’s economy.
How would you respond to the opportunity? |
