Stewardship

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am continually amazed at how God continues to work in our lives. Christian author, Max Lucado, wrote the following words in one of his books, “God loves you the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way.” Praise God for that!

A while back, I attended a workshop on stewardship.  David S. Bell, Director of the Center for Christian Stewardship at the United Methodist General Board of Discipleship, was the presenter. He began the workshop by asking us what we learned as children about money. Some of the responses were as follows:

“A penny saved is a penny earned.”

“Save for a rainy day.”

“You can’t take it with you.”

“Money is the root of all evil.”

My response was similar to “save for a rainy day.” As a child, my parents taught me it was better to save money than to spend it. It is true that childhood experiences with money, to some extent, influence the way we think about money as adults. However, as adult disciples of Jesus Christ, we need to know what he Bible has to say about money and let the Word of God influence our thinking about money. The scriptures teach us that everything we have comes as a gift from God. “The world and all that is in it belong o the Lord, the earth and all who live on it are His.” (Psalm 24:1)

God has chosen to share His world with all of us.  Often times we don’t know what is around the corner.  We have to walk by faith. And as we step out in faith, we learn that God is faithful and can be trusted. God is good at providing us opportunities to grow in our faith. One opportunity to grow in our faith has to do with our giving. Most people are not natural givers. I think our tendency more often is to hang on to what we have for fear we won’t have enough for the future, When God calls us to give, which God does throughout the Bible, answering God’s call often times requires a step of faith. Do we have faith in God’s promises with regard to giving? One of my most favorite scriptures about giving is found in Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. Paul writes,

“ Each one should give, then, as he has decided, not
with regret or out of a sense of duty; for God loves the
one who gives gladly. And God is able to give you
more than you need, so that you will always have all
you need for yourselves and more than enough for
every good cause. As the scripture says, ‘He gives
generously to the needy; his kindness lasts forever.’
And God, who supplies seed for the sower and bread
to eat, will also supply you with all the seed you need
and will make it grow and produce a rich harvest from
your generosity.” (2 Corinthians 9:7-10)

In the days to come, may we all think about the opportunity we have been given to grow in our faith through giving. Thanks be to God!

And All God’s Children said,

“Amen”

Pastor Karen