I’ve recommended this elsewhere, but I encourage guys to take their kids through this Bible-based finance course. I did it when mine were 6 and 8.
Because of this background, my tots are like clockwork (because it’s all they know! Because they’ve been TRAINED!! Get it??) about setting all incoming dough into 3 categories: saving, giving, and spending. (They more or less break them into 3rds at this stage of the game; it’s a precedent I’m happy to set in their brains, even if we adjust it down the line. What have they got to spend money on right now, anyway? Let ‘em practice their way into being giving and saving machines, I say.)
At the end of the year, and sometimes at the half year, we settle accounts. Savings money goes into the bank account (which we make an event. We also compound anything they’ve got in there with a 10% bonus from the Bank of Dad, because I want them to get hyped about compounding interest. But that’s another article…), and giving goes to…
um…
Well… where DOES my kids’ giving money go?
Where, for that matter, does MY giving money go?
Imma break it down for you just like I did for them, over a few posts. Let’s get started with one simple idea. The first thing I want to say on this topic (which matters a GREAT DEAL to me; I’ll explain later) is that:
GIVING IS A GLORIOUS RESPONSIBILITY
What I mean is: giving isn’t some random, meaningless “good deed” that you do casually and it just goes into God’s Great Big Penny Jar In The Sky which we hope He remembers 100 years from now. It really matters. And it matters NOW. Here’s an ice cold Six Pack of points to back that up:
- Every year, God hands each of us a packet of money. Your packet isn’t as big or heavy as you’d like it to be, but it’s bigger than lots of people around you… and smaller than what some others get. That is irrelevant. God, in His Magnificent, Omniscient and All-Summarizing way, has considered your past, future, character, tendencies, weak areas, potential… (and everything else) and apportioned you THIS packet of money, for this year. (BTW you can kick against the goads if you want to, but the Sovereign has chosen CORRECTLY in giving you this packet. It’s EXACTLY the right size.) And this year’s Packet I’m Responsible For is NOT the same size as it was 20 or even 5 years ago. I can apply some of the same principles I learned long ago to this packet… but I’ve never seen this packet before. And God has new mercy available for me to apply to this packet. It’s not “ho hum, same as before… adjust the numbers and do what we’ve done before.” I would call that prayerless, and possibly irresponsible. What I’m saying is…
- Let’s be intentional. PLEASE don’t just give to whatever comes in your mailbox or whatever billboard you saw most recently. Years ago, I thought, “All that matters is that I get RID of this money, get it out of my hands. What happens to it after that isn’t really my concern.” No, no, no, young Stevie. There is some truth to that if greed is your problem at the moment (“get rid of some of that money you stingy freak!”), but that is not the way of maturity. Let’s think this through and send our money out with purpose. Don’t be slapdash; be intentional.
- Giving is a blessing, maybe even a reward. Those with little can’t give much. Simple math. (I’m not saying that, when you have little, giving a little doesn’t matter. It matters PLENTY; God regards any money joyfully rendered as very important. He doesn’t miss a cent of what’s given.) But when the proverb “to him who is faithful in a little, he will be given more…” comes to bear in your life, and you ARE given more via faithfulness, you start to see the blessing of wielding increased financial power. Did you know that God ENJOYS giving increased amounts of power and authority to His sons? He DOES! And He’s just WAITING for sons who’ll designate themselves as candidates for that authority. I didn’t really understand these principles at the time, but I gave when I had little to give in my younger years, and I know the LORD saw it. But… the practical difference I made in somebody’s life or ministry by giving $20 here and there was incomparable to what my wife and I can do now. My generations sacrificed, and I’ve worked hard, and sought to be faithful… and my ability and opportunity to give is part of the reward for me and for my parents and grandparents. What I have to give today is the culmination of God’s kindness, literally, over generations. What a blessing! AND…
- Giving is a testing ground for faithfulness. As I hope you’ve heard many times around here, finances are NOT the most important place we can be faithful to the LORD… it’s just one of the most obvious and easily measurable. The Biblical rule is, if you’re faithful with money, you can be trusted with things which are TRULY valuable (like men’s hearts, the leadership of God’s people, the holding forth of His Word, etc.) The opposite is also true: If, by your actions, you say to God, “You could trust me when I only had a little… but now that I have more, I’ve warped into selfishness,” God will get the message loud and clear. DON’T DO THAT. Be faithful with little… AND be faithful with much. One of my spiritual heros and my pastor when I lived in Nashville, Don Finto tells a story of when his son said to him, “Dad when I only had $10 to give, it was easy. It’s not so easy writing $10,000 checks,” to which Don said, “Well I can start praying that the LORD would get you back to that $10 if it’ll preserve your character…” Which reminds me:
- Giving JOYFULLY is the LORD’s way to do it. He watches how we give, you know. And His concern is on our hearts in addition to our hands and mouths. Do we give money grudgingly, as if He is a slave driver and demands miserly living because His tax on us plebes is so high? Or do we do it emotionlessly, as if robotic submission were all he required? (What an offensive thing to say about God. “He only wants obedience; he doesn’t care how I feel about it. Imagine trying to make love to a wife who thought like this: “He only wants the mechanics of stimulation and intercourse; it doesn’t matter if I engage emotionally”… sound like fun to you? No! It sounds awful!) Or… Or do we do it “hilariously”, thrilled at what God has so outrageously and generously done for us that we can boldly take big swings at those things we’re called toward? [More on this subject in later editions, but I believe that giving is a CHAINSAW that God gives YOU to deploy. It’s not a display of powerlessness where you forfeit your resources. Poo on that idea.] How thankful I am to be able to give what I can! How faithful and merciful and kind the Master has been to me! Whee! How kind He is!!
- And when I do give generously, joyfully, and strategically–as He has–I reflect His glory! I look just like Dad when I do the things He does! He is The Giver Incomparable! And my giving money (and–if you’ll follow me up the list of capitals–giving ideas, giving time, giving love, and giving allegiance to God) smells like the aroma of Christ in the world! There are many ways to give off a God-scent to the world (like great husbanding, great fathering, great stewardship, great witnessing…), but please don’t undersell the God-glorifying power blast of GIVING. Our Heavenly Father is a giving machine, and He wants to turn His sons into giving machines. He wants us to affect cultures, give rise to great art, nurture people, and generally (get ready for a zany bold statement)… be Him in the world. HINT: if you don’t get your arms around the power of giving boldly, strategically, and sacrificially, you’ll NEVER be “Christ in the world”.
Guzzle down that six pack, brahs, and that’s the end of part 1. Giving is a RESPONSIBILITY, by gum, and not one we should take lightly. It’s an opportunity like no other.
Coming up next… What are we supposed to give TO?
