So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:31-33
“It’s difficult to be generous if we worry about things, especially money. Conversely, if God and His ways are more important to us than anything else, we can be generous and not worry that we’ll run out of “all these things.” We have to be careful here. This is a promise about life, not about material wealth. Jesus is not telling us that if we give, we get more money in return. Rather, generosity produces the virtues of joy, peace, purpose, and contentment that give life and true meaning. At the same time, many of the people who have joined our conversation have increased their generosity, yet I do not recall a single instance where anyone ran out of money because he or she gave too much away. But suppose someone did. Suppose he [or she] gave every penny away and his [or her] account hit zero. According to this promise, God will take care of him [or her]. Do we really believe the Bible? Can we trust it? How do we move into greater levels of trust?”
Todd Harper in Abundant: Experiencing the Incredible Journey of Generosity (Chattanooga: Generous Giving, 2016) 39-40.
This is a great new book from Generous Giving. Harper invites readers to explore the spiritual journey of growing in generosity which is rooted in trusting in God and His promises. I enthusiastically commend it to the readers of my daily meditations. Here’s the endorsement I was privileged to include in the front of the book.
“Jesus does not call the rich to a posture of destitution, but rather, joyful distribution. Want to explore this idea further? This is the book for you! Todd Harper meets you where you are and graciously guides you from trying to maximize your net worth to maximizing kingdom impact. The best part is that you will find the journey to be the most enriching trip of your life.”
I am worshipping at Korean Central Presbyterian Church in Centreville, Virginia, outside of Washington D.C., this morning and interacting with leaders from KCPC and other leading Korean-American churches today and tomorrow. While these leaders grasp generosity and trust in God at profoundly deep levels, there is room for growth linked to demonstrating financial transparency and accountability to rally greater participation in the gospel. Our meetings will orbit around helping them understand the benefits of ECFA membership. This is not about expanding ECFA so much helping them enhance trust through greater transparency to expand God’s kingdom.