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How will you decide your giving? You may be familiar with the verse chosen for our stewardship theme, “ A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” The verse before it says,” One man gives freely but gains even more, another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.”
There are several songs and stories echoing this theme. You might know the old Sunday School song, “Love is something if you give it away, you’ll end up having more. It’s just like a magic penny, hold it tight and you won’t have any. Lend it, spend it and you’ll have so many, they’ll roll all over the floor.”
I used to tell the warm fuzzy story at 4-H Camp. In a nutshell, the people of a village carried pouches of warm fuzzies that never seemed to run out, no matter how many hugs or other acts of kindness and loving they gave each other. When a bitter, lonely witch planted the idea that they should hoard the warm fuzzies so they wouldn’t run out, they turned into cold prick lies and everyone became mean and sullen. When a couple of children found a stray warm fuzzy and gave it to their loved ones, hearts melted and the endless supply of warm fuzzies began again.
In Matthew, Jesus tells a wealthy young man that to enter the kingdom of Heaven it is not enough just to obey the commandments. He must sell all his possessions and give to the poor, then follow Him.
How many of us can say that we’ve given up everything to follow Jesus? How many of us give the first 10% of our earnings, time, and talents to God? How many of us trust God to take care of us by giving our hearts to Him and following his commandments? I’ll admit that I’m not very close to doing some of these. But I at least know my destination, now I just have to continue making the right choices on my journey.
I have been a United Methodist my whole life, but I didn’t know what it meant to have a personal relationship with God until a few years ago. At that time I participated in a program called the Weigh Down Workshop, an idea conceived by a woman named Gwen Shamblyn. I would describe Weigh Down as a bible study in which the by-product is weight loss. The focus of Weigh Down is not on losing weight, but on your relationship with God.
Gwen believes that God made the hearts of humankind to adore. God gave us free will to choose what we adore. Some of us love and adore food, some alcohol, drugs sports, money, etc. In Weigh Down, I learned to turn my adoration, love, and focus on food to adoration, love and focus on God. It’s a process I’m still going through. Gwen likens that process to the journey the Jews took to the promised land after the exodus from Egypt. When we acknowledge that we are in bondage to some worldly passion, then we must turn to God and trust Him as he helps us through the desert of testing and into the promised land. During my Weigh Down sessions, I saw some people shoot right on through that desert. They lost weight and kept it off and had a great new outlook on life. Others of us started the journey, then, as Gwen says, “backstroked” right back into Egypt, embracing slavery once again to our bad habits. Some people were like the Jews, able to take those first precious steps towards freedom, then wandering around for several months or years in the desert, trusting God here and there as prodded, but not willing to place all their love and trust in Him constantly. Being in the promised land means that you’ve finally placed God first in your life, and your adoration and focus is on Him and following his commandments, and accepting His plan for your life.
In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us not to worry. As God provides food for the birds and the beauty of the flowers, so shall he provide us with food and clothing. Again, God just wants you to trust Him. One of my favorite Guideposts magazine stories tells of a couple who did not have much money. Their freezer conked out and they needed another one. It was going to cost just about as much as their monthly tithe to the church. They knew that if they had faith, and gave God his money first, that He would provide. Sure enough, they received a freezer from a friend who no longer needed it.
Sometimes we call these circumstances coincidences. Gwen calls them God-incidences. When you love God with all your heart and obey His word, then there are no coincidences. God is in charge of your life, and we can only pray to have understanding of the grace and blessings he bestows on us. I really did not take note of the blessings I received from God until I took Weigh Down. As part of my bible study, I look for the blessings He’s given me that day. Even if I’m having a really crummy day, I realize that living in this country with its freedoms, and having a roof over my head, are gifts from God that are irreplaceable. What’s even more overwhelming for me is realizing that even though I’m far from being obedient to Him the way I should be, He is still blessing me every day. That’s probably why I’m standing before you today. My husband recently mentioned that I’m busier with church things now than I ever have been before. I guess this is my way of honoring God.
You all should have received the stewardship campaign mailing. It mentions that when you’re thinking of giving to the church, it doesn’t have to be monetary. You can serve on a committee, or take advantage of a volunteer opportunity. Everyone here has a talent or gift that the church would welcome. But the plain truth is that the church relies on monthly giving to sustain the staff and programs that enrich our lives, and others’ as well.
In Genesis, God was pleased with Abel because he gave God the best fat portions of his flock. But he was disappointed with Cain because he did not give him the best selections of his harvest. When God offered his son Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins, it meant that we no longer needed to make sacrifices of animals and food. But we should still be offering God the best portions of what we have. Do you make time to be with God daily, or do you try to catch him when you have a moment? Does God have the love of your heart, or have you given it to something of the world? Maybe you have to sacrifice a TV show so you can go to bed earlier so you can get up to have quiet time with God. Maybe you have to sacrifice a tee-time or soccer game to come to worship service. Maybe you have to sacrifice a dinner out to make a pledge to the church.
How will you decide how much you can give? That’s between you and God, and you must spend time with God and in his word in order to find out. A few weeks ago, Rev. Jim spoke about how to pray. One point which stuck in my mind was coming into God’s presence. When I pray, I think I get into God’s presence, but I have a tough time staying there and listening. I usually thank him for the blessings, confess my sins, tell him a lesson I learned from the bible, and then rattle off my laundry list of prayers – please take care of so and so, please watch over so and so, and please find a way for me to get that outfit I saw in the Eddie Bauer catalogue. Then I’m done. I’ve tried a few times recently to just sit and be still to see if he’ll talk to me. Then I start thinking about some chore that needs to be done, or worse yet, I’ll start daydreaming or falling asleep. So how will you talk to God? How will you hear his reply? Some people might make a decision and ask God to give them a sign that it’s the right one. Or they might randomly open the bible and see if God directs their attention to a passage which will answer their question. However you do it, please prayerfully consider with God how you can give back to the church.
God has given me so many blessings, and I haven’t been as faithful as I should be. How much better would it be if I were really obedient? Gwen Shamblyn says that when you give to God, he gives it back to you plus more. If you give him an hour day, he’ll give you two hours later on. If you give him $10, he’ll give you $100 later on. As it says in Proverbs 3, “ Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will brim over with new wine.”
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