About Giving
Let's talk about money (without the guilt trip).
What does your bank account say about the condition of your soul? What does our spending of money say about what we love?
I don't think most of us are stingy and greedy, but I do think a lot of us wake up worrying about money, or how we're going to pay for things. Money has incredible power in our lives, to occupy our minds and hearts, and to hold us in a place of fear. In this way, money just feels like constant bad news.
Rarely does God invite us to challenge Him (watch out!) but in Malachi 3:8 He does, and it's about money. Basically, God says "try me" provoking us to put our trust in Him, to really learn to live on His gifts of grace and witness His power.
This Sunday I explored what the Bible teaches us about wealth, and how to use it in the most life-giving ways. Knowing full-well how important and personal money is in our lives, but more importantly that God is inviting us to live on His grace, I want to invite you to lean in with a few follow-up steps:
Listen: If you missed this message, please go listen to it online on itunes or SoundCloud.
Pray: Find a few times during the week to sit down and ask "God, help me to see what you're doing here in my life." Study and sit with scripture. Notice fears, defensiveness, and hopes that spring up in you. Ask God what those feelings are about. Put all of that before Him and invite Him to care for you.
Chat: Have a conversation in your Table Group, with your spouse, or with friends. Talk about the sermon with others. It may be helpful to sit down with your Table Group leader, or one of our pastoral staff. Let us know.
Plan: Figure out how you will respond to God's invitation You might take it a step at a time like this: make giving a priority (budget it first), pick a percentage (again look for God's invitation), and commit to making progress (every time you give pray for God's help to grow).
Commit: Giving online at Rez makes consistent follow-through with giving super easy. There's even a new mobile app for Rez (apple, android) that makes all this even easier. And those wooden tokens at church make sure that my giving is connected with the liturgy in an act of worship. Starting in November, our whole church will be pledging how much we'll be giving in 2020. Find out more about all that here.
Friends, I want to encourage you not to be afraid. Giving is about discipleship. It's really about learning to trust God in an important area of our lives. The Good News is that Christ is already waiting for you in your journey, and so is your whole Rez community. Let's open our lives to the Lord and grow together, I wonder what He's going to do!
Peace,
Shawn+
