Make Giving a Lifestyle

Monday, 30 August 2010

‘...God loves a person who gives cheerfully.’ 2 Corinthians 9:7 NLT

A child who had just learned to tie his shoelaces was crying, so his mum asked, ‘Is it that hard?’ ‘No,’ he sobbed, ‘but now I’ll have to do it for the rest of my life!’ Is that how you feel about giving? You want to learn, but you’re not sure that you want to make it a lifestyle? Some swallows were teaching their young to fly from a branch overhanging a lake. One by one the mother bird pushed each of her chicks to the end, until somewhere between the branch and the water they discovered they could fly. Their mother understood what they didn’t: until you learn to fly you’re not really living! Understand this: giving is an action built into us by God; it’s the air into which we were born. But until you realise that, you’ll cling to everything you have! The Bible says, ‘...Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.’ (2 Corinthians 9:6 NIV) Everything in life begins with a seed. Your seed is anything that can multiply: your love, your time or your money. Your harvest is what comes back to you in benefits such as joy, good relationships, and – yes – finances. If what you have is not enough to be a harvest, sow it as a seed, believing God will multiply it back to you in the areas you need it most. Go ahead, you’ll love the results! Giving is like flying. When you learn to let go of what you’re clinging to and launch out, you will realise, ‘This is how I was born to live!’

*** Yes sometimes it is hard for me to give. Sometimes I have good intentions of giving for ministries and churches but never had the chance to do so because I was so afraid to lose my money. I mean in the end God will return everything to me generously if I only give generously. I am not neglecting my tithes but maybe God is knocking my heart into giving into other ministries. To ISCF, to Lifehouse, etc. There are institutions, outreaches that need my support financially and prayerfully of course. I say that let those with much give much but in the end I still believe I'm in the other half of the much. I'm in New Zealand after all. Even if I clean toilets, smell like poo and old soap. I still have much compared to another million or billion in the other side of the world. I ought to be thankful by helping. Now, where do I start?