This advice was given to Ben Rae, a church planter as well as a stewardship and prayer director, from a million dollar giver.
“He shared with me how he came to the place where he was able to give away a million dollars in one year. Although he is a millionaire now, he had started giving generously as a young man when he had very little. He proceeded to share with me two pieces of biblical financial advice he has followed for years. He attributed his wealth to a large degree to these two principles–principles that I call “the million dollar advice.”
The first principle is to count every cent (keep a disciplined budget). The second principle is to be a generous giver (don’t be limited to 10%).
He said that he and his wife decided to do this when they started with nothing. They allocated a tiny “spending money” budget for themselves, stuck to their budget and were determined to give much more. He shared how in those days he kept a tally of their budget in a notebook. Today he keeps that as a memento, symbolizing the foundation of discipline that God gave him. That simple practice was foundational for their financial success.
Ben Rae in Dynamic Steward Journal, Jan-Mar 2014, volume 18, number 1, page 8.
I just love the simplicity and scalability of this, especially while teaching church and educational leaders in Honduras this week. Even when we start with nothing, our stewardship is linked to what we have and our generosity must not stop at a percentage. As we are blessed, we must carefully steward and generously share! Start small and let God grow it! What great biblical financial advice for the whole world!