Why do I give? #4

I don't want to muzzle

I give because I want the Church to do well.
Unashamedly I really want the Bride of Christ to be looked after, blessed, well taken care off.
In fact I think it is part of my responsibilities as a follower of Jesus.

Jesus is coming back for His bride and I want her to be as glorious as possible on her wedding day.
I recognised a long time ago that my giving helps play a part in making sure the Church is not muzzled, restricted, even destroyed. My small part I pay helps a bride be prepared for its groom.
Please know I am speaking as a member of Christs body not just as a Pastor looking to placate some agenda.

When we withhold in the gracious gift of giving, we actually restrict what God can do through others.
I know some have been burned by leadership mistakes, but I can not in good conscience settle for that as an excuse to remove my giving from the equation.

Have you ever bought a coffee and it wasn't that good?
And based on that bad experience did you decide to never buy a coffee again?
Did you declare loudly and proudly that it is your civic, neigh moral duty even to make others aren't burned as you have been?
Maybe a silly analogy, but a similar story to what I have heard as a leader.

For Scripture says, "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain," and "The worker deserves his wages."

1 Timothy 5:18 niv

I in no way want to muzzle and restrict those whose role it is to serve us in leadership and preaching, so I give a portion to play my part.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to act.

Proverbs 3:27 niv

Something to think about...

Why do I give? #3

I want to honour

I think that this word 'honour' gets used by you and me without possibly thinking about its meaning...and it has a pretty cool meaning!
It is used as both a noun and verb.
It is both the naming of something or someone to honour them and also the act of honouring them.

I have learnt that I can honour God with the 'fruit of my lips' and 'what lines my pockets'...

Scripture shows every generation of God's people doing both.
They honoured God by what they said of Him and their faith in Him.
They honoured Him with their actions, especially in the act of giving financially.
It is 'normal' for God's people to give a portion of what they have received back to Him as soon as physically possible.

Honour the Lord with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;

Proverbs 3:9 niv

You might be thinking this sounds kind of weird...
What does God care about what I do with the money I have?
Very few things show what you truly honour, except what we say and how we spend. In fact scripture tells us that God gets a real clear picture of how much we truly honour Him by how we handle our finances, whether we are giving or not, the level of our generosity.

Maybe this will help?
The writer of this proverb finishes his sentence this way...

then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.

Proverbs 3:10 niv

When we honour God the pattern seems to be that He then honours us even more.
I choose to honour God with what I give, not because I am after blessing, but it is a pretty cool byproduct for me!

Something to think about...

Why do I give? #2

I want to bless

One of the biggest thrills I have in my life is being able to bless someone else! I am serious about that.
I actually get frustrated when I can't bless as much as I feel I want to...

One day Suze and I felt lead to give a family a car.
We had 2 and because they didn't have one, it just seemed to make sense.
So I got up early one Saturday morning and cleaned our station wagon better than I had ever done before. Scrubbed it, polished it - made it smell fresh as a flower!
Then headed to the Post Office to get the change of ownership papers before we drove it around to the new owners.
I will never forget the looks on their faces when I simply handed them the keys and said "this is for you!"
What they wouldn't have understood is I was just as excited, if not more...

I want to be a blessing.
I think it is awesome to give to God especially financially.
Being able to give to Him is something I love to do. I want to bless Him. I want my giving to bless God's people.
I consider it an extreme honour to be part of the blessing process...

2 “I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 12:2-3 niv

God made this promise of a divine and exciting process to Abraham, and I believe it also applies to us today.
Our lives can be an ongoing source of blessing.
I hope you can discover the reality of this for yourself as well?

Something to think about...

Why do I give? #1

I have been thinking about why I give, especially in light of many around me questioning why you would even bother.
Many weeks at Churches around the globe there is that 'moment'. That moment where someone encourages, convinces, cajoles even sometimes, those in attendance to give something financially.

Please, before you write me off and stop reading because you really feel uncomfortable with this topic, why not take a moment to check out my personal thoughts on this?
What I am going to share is me. What I think. Why I give and even continue to give.

I want to contribute

My very first Sunday morning experience in August 1991 is where I heard about a way I could be part of what God was doing at the Church I started attending.
Now I had only been there 7 days, with my first experience being the Sunday night before.
The Pastor does something called an 'offering talk', and I can still remember thinking "how does this even work?", that it all sounded a bit strange and foreign to me.
At the same time I remember thinking that I wanted to be part of what was going on.
That if it took some of the resources I had, then why not.
I should at least give it a try and see what happens...

Jesus had radically changed my life after watching a video and then with my responding by giving my heart to him in the shower.
I was passionately trying to find my way.
And in my passion and maybe arguably naivety I went with what someone over me in Christ suggested.
I wanted to contribute.
Because I didn't have enough experience yet, I couldn't offer to worship lead, preach, even help on the door. What I did recognise quickly is that I could contribute to the work of God at that Church with some dollars.

I started contributing that way August 27th 1991, and I can honestly and proudly say I have counted it an honour to continue doing to this day!
I want to contribute to what God is wanting to do.
I want to play my part with what I can, to ultimately see the Churches needs met.
I want to make sure that I do what I can, in part to at least give something back to God for what He has so graciously done for me.

“Since the people began to bring their contributions to the temple of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare, because the Lord has blessed his people, and this great amount is left over.”

2 Chronicles 31:10 niv

What a great picture of the way it should work...
When Gods people all contribute, there is always more than enough, there are leftovers, and all of Gods people feel blessed!

Something to think about...

Thanks from me :)

Hi everybody...
Recently I took the time to have a look through the stats of my little blog page.
Was blown away that so many from all corners of the globe have take the time to visit and have a read! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

I am from New Zealand, and yet the majority of my readers come from other parts of the world. Turkmenistan, France, Portugal to name a few of the amazing places I have never been, yet you have visited me.

Thanks again for the honour of sharing with you.
I truly hope what I share helps in some big or even small way...

If you ever have any questions, comments or topic requests, I would love to hear from you!
Simply email me at locky@elim.org.nz