1. We should all give sacrificially. I think that this is clear from the biblical story and is something that every believer should practice. The story of the rich young ruler in Matthew, Mark, and Luke as well as the story of the Widow's Mite in Mark and Luke seem to teach such things. Not only that, but look at giving in the Old Testament or in the book of Acts. The pattern is not that of stingy giving, but of giving that goes beyond what is merely comfortable to give. That is a hard lesson because it demands self-sacrifice, and in American society that is not looked upon very highly. A quote by C.S. Lewis is helpful here too. "I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare... If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us,... they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditures excludes them." That puts it in practical terms for me. If I'm always doing what I want and buying what I want and then giving whatever is left over, then I question if I am really giving sacrificially, as I should be.
2. All money is God's money. God does not own 10% of your money. He does not own the leftovers of your money even if it is in excess of 10% of your income. He owns it all. It is all his. He is the one who has blessed us with money of any sort. This sort of argument makes sense when we talk about our actions and behavior. Think about what would happen if someone said that God was only to be worshiped with 10% of my time or energy. That is ridiculous sounding! If we truly believe that we owe our lives to him, how much more do we owe our money to him. He owns all things, not portions of things.
3. We need to have a valid definition of luxuries. If you ask many Americans what a luxury is, you will probably get an answer that talks about beach homes, a Ferrari in your driveway, airplanes, or any number of extravagant things. While I agree that these things are luxuries, I think we need a broader definition. Now, you are catching me having just come back from Peru, so Laura and I would like to think that we have a fuller understanding of what a luxury is relative to most people in the world now than we did before Peru. Laura said to me over lunch that a nice mattress is a luxury. How true, after seeing many people sleep on tiny beds with plywood and a piece of foam as all that cushions them at night. Luxuries do not have to be flashy or ultra expensive. They can be as simple as a nice meal out to eat.
4. We need to think and pray before spending money on luxuries. Now you might be thinking that I am all against luxuries. Honestly I'm not. Just yesterday, Laura and I went to see a movie (a thing we now call a luxury). But what I think needs to happen before we mindlessly drop money on luxuries from $20 to $20,000 is ask God for guidance and spend some time thinking about how we spend our money. Sometimes, I think it will be perfectly alright to spend the money on the luxury, even if it is a little pricey. Sometimes, though, I think that we will be convicted by the Spirit or realize that we don't really need to spend the money, that it is adding nothing overall to our lives, and that it can be better utilized elsewhere. Even if we end up purchasing the luxury, going through this process will only help us think with greater concern and clarity on God's purposes for both ourselves and the nations.
5. Set a cap on your lifestyle. There is a very natural tendency to live more extravagantly the more money you make. If you make $30,000 a year, you don't have a very big house and don't have many luxuries at all. If you make $300,000 a year, you live in an enormous home with all the latest amenities and spend most of that money. After all, you earned it and it belongs to you, right? (See point number two above!) What if making $300,000 a year didn't mean that we lived that way? What if we lived like we had enough to get by and didn't spend everything on top of that? A professor told a story one time of a Harvard professor who had vowed to do this sort of thing. He decided that he and his family could get by on $35,000 a year. Even though he was making over $100,000 due to his job and authoring several textbooks, he lived on $35,000 and either saved or gave away the rest. And he was simply doing this because he thought it was the best thing to do for mankind (or at least so my teacher told me). If our motivation is alleviating spiritual and physical poverty in the name of Jesus Christ, how much more should we be willing to do such a thing.
6. Motivation for this is grace and joy, not guilt. Preachers are notorious for guilt trips. They can sometimes unwittingly preach something with what they see as conviction, but what some people hear as a mere guilt trip. I suppose this is inevitable to some degree, but the motivation for living in this way is not simply thinking about hungry boys and girls or people who do not yet have access to the Bible in their own language (though those are not bad in and of themselves). The motivation comes out of an overflow of the grace that God has poured out into my life. Wes Stafford, the President and CEO of Compassion International, spoke at Student Life last year. He said something that really stuck with me. You will notice in all the pictures of children that Compassion puts out that they do not use pictures with flies crawling on babies or children with distended stomachs. He said that he does not want to resort to what he called "poverty pornography," but would only use pictures that would make those childrens' parents proud. That is a concerted effort to motivate people not through guilt, but through love. Laura and I give and write to our child, Cristian, not because we were guilted into it, but because we love God and we love him.
I'll close with a passage from 2 Corinthians that I think is appropriate here. Paul has been speaking about collecting an offering to send to the Christians in Jerusalem. I hope and pray that we continue to grow in this area and respond to the challenge of God's word in a way that seeks his glory among all nations, regardless of how comfortable or uncomfortable it makes us.
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, "He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." He who supplies the seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because the surpsassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!2 Corinthians 9:6-15
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