Our Spirituality Through Our Pocket Book

[Carl]

I have heard and believe that my giving is a measure of my spirituality. These few sentences pretty well sums up what my attitude should be.

God doesn't just own our possessions; if we have committed our lives to Christ, He owns us as well.
Since God owns everything, He has the right to whatever He wants whenever He wants it.
God, the Owner, has rights; we, the stewards, have only responsibilities.
Not only is every giving decision a spiritual decision, but every spending decision is a spiritual decision as well.
We can't fake the quality of our stwardship; it is revealed in our checkbooks and on our calendars.
People and churches don't have giving problems; they have heart problems.
What is left over after we give is just as revealing of our hearts as the amounts we give.

While going through this lesson I was reviewing my life and thinking about the things that I hang onto. Where I used to work the office building was rented. It's fire alarm system used to have false alarms. We got lax with our response to the alarms, and were told that we must leave the building until the alarm is verified as false. So next alarm I dutifully got up to leave. While getting up did I grab my calculator, or my engineering books? No, I grabbed my cigarettes! Where is my heart?

From Southern Baptist Lifeway, LifeWords Leader Guide, KJV.

[Hannah]

I agree some people are not as generous as they could be but their hearts have to be touched by God to respond to him NOT Forced by others Judging them or worse these False Greedy Shepherds who teach heresy like the popular Prosperity Doctrine which appeals to mankinds greed and makes that the reason for giving.

So how should we give? Not because some one else tells us to do it. It has to be a heart change in the individual Believer and that will happen in God's timing it cannot be forced by others in the Church. We can teach it but each individual must come to the point of generosity on their own.

2CO 9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:

"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever."

2CO 9:10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

We should not sit on people's backs and criticise them into giving. Nor should we Bully them or Guilt them into being generous.

God wants us to be free in how much we give and He will work in our lives and hearts to be able to give and give generously.


Verse 8 that follows about God being able to provide for all your needs. It might take a while for a Saved Beleiver to truly Believe God will provide for them and their families. We tend to cling onto our money or possessions if we think we cannot get them in the future. People who have gone through any kind of Recession or Depression tend to cling onto things because of their experiencing Lack.

We come to Christ but we are not perfected in Christ until we reach Heaven. God knows this and He patiently raises us up into maturity in Christ and His Word. We too should be patient as we grow and change in Christ. We may not be maturing as fast as we would like. Some of us struggle with some sin for many years before we can see a break in the pattern of behaviour. We don't become instantly like Jesus we are Saved it is a process. It takes time. Being totally for God in everything we do takes time. Reality is we will not be completely without sin or perfected in Christ until we reach Heaven.

Not making excuses but that is the reality and if we think that we should be far more advanced spiritually than what we are right at this moment we are allowing Satan to fool us into thinking we are unworthy or some how failures and guilt will creep into our lives.

It takes some people no time at all to learn certain scriptural principals and others it takes a while.

We should not wallow in "why didn't I get this before?" kinds of thoughts. God knows how fast each one of us can mature and is willing to mature in Christ and He works with that to make more and more like Jesus.

I'm 30 years in Christ. I am still learning new scriptural lessons. I am still being perfected and will be until I get to Heaven. I am sure we are still learning up in Heaven but it will be without Sin up in Heaven. Right now I know I am bogged down occassionally by my Old Sin nature which certainly tries to resurrect itself now and then. When my sin nature stirs up and tries to undo lessons I have already learned I have to apply the Word of God all over again.

God forgives my sins because He applied the Blood of Christ to me and washed them away. I am forgiven by God and when I fail Him (fall from grace) or when I am shown sin in my life by the Holy Spirit, I also need to forgive Myself as well and just work on the sin issue and move on.

We all hold back a certain amount of ourselves from God. But God doesn't demand we give it over in ONE lot. God is patient and helps us willingly Give ourselves and our material things to Him, little by little over our lifetime here on Earth. If we go to Heaven not having given Him everything. Don't worry God will get the rest when we come into His presence (minus our sinful nature that doesn't follow us into heaven).

Don't be so hard on yourself. You have been challenged by the Holy Spirit and now you can respond to this new spiritual lesson you have learned. Don't be surprised if you have trouble doing it perfectly the first time. It may take a lot of practice before you get it right.