Many people who are not believers plant their flag of disbelief in the shaky ground of doubt based on questions like the following:
"What kind of God would say He loves us, and then send us to Hell?"
"What kind of God would tempt Adam and Eve by placing a forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden?"
"What kind of God would allow the atrocities we see every day on the news, if we claim that He is love?"
Now, clearly, these questions have been posed hundreds of thousands of times, sometimes in an effort to truly understand the nature of God, and other times to hide behind a seemingly impossible question to grasp in order to sidestep the issue of faith.
But, now I would like to turn to a question that is equally difficult to wrap our heads around. It goes something like this:
"What kind of God would ask me to give when He knows that I'm struggling just to make ends meet every month?"
Of course, there are several variations on this question, based on a number of different variables (paycheck frequency, how much the person asking the question is struggling, etc). I think, whether vocally or internally, each of us has asked that question at some point in our lives. But at the core of this question is a pervasive issue of selfishness. We have a very distorted view of what God really wants for our lives. Let me try and shed some light on this with some very simple statements:
God is not interested in our happiness; He's interested in our holiness. You see, we seem to think that God clearly wants us to be happy, and if we sacrifice to give, we might end up sacrificing our happiness. Nothing could be further from the truth. Happiness is fleeting. Happiness is an emotional response. God wants something deeper. He wants us to experience the joy of being set apart (holy) for His purposes. And to that end, we need to be willing to sacrifice a little bit (or a lot) of "happiness" in order to promote God's Will in our lives.
God is not interested in our comfort; He's interested in our commitment. Comfort and complacency go hand-in-hand. Nobody said the Christian life would be comfortable. In fact, there are a plethora of verses that indicate the exact opposite of this sentiment (John 16:33, James 1:2, 1 Peter 4:12 are just a few notable examples). The Christian life is not about form, but function. We endure ordeals and trials so that we can grow in our faith, and you can bet that when we successfully endure one trial through the power and strength of Jesus Christ, the next one will be just a bit more difficult. God wants us to be committed to Him, and to serving His purpose for our lives. I would venture to say that He doesn't give a rip about our comfort.
God is not interested in our wealth; He's interested in our worship. How wealthy we are, how prosperous we become and how much prestige we garner are not the least bit important to God. He wants our worship. He wants us to live a life of total submission to His plan for our lives. This does not necessarily include becoming rich. While there certainly are Christ-followers who are wealthy by worldly standards, it is not because they have been faithful Christians. The two have nothing to do with each other. God wants us to worship Him in everything that we do. He wants us to worship when singing our praises. He wants us to worship Him in our quiet times every day. He wants us to worship Him through diligence at work. He wants us to worship Him through our relationship with our spouse and children. He wants us to worship Him through our relationship with our friends and co-workers. And, He wants us to worship Him with our money through the giving of tithes and offerings.
Can giving be scary? Of course it can. When it looks like there isn't enough money in the budget to give to God, it can be absolutely terrifying. But has God ever failed to provide for the needs of someone who is faithful in their giving and generosity? I can't think of even a single example. That's an exceptional track record.
And that's what kind of a God He really is.
Learning to Give in a Getting World, by Marc Farnell and Jesse Greever, is available as both a paperback and eBook at the following locations:
Amazon.com (paperback, $13.99; eBook, $8.99)
It is also available to Amazon Prime members as a free eBook download as a part of the Kindle Lending Library. Pastors and church administrators can contact me directly at jesse@accidental-author.com to find out about discounts available for churches that wish to use this for teaching and small group curriculum.
You can also become a fan of the book at www.facebook.com/LearningToGive.
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/JesseSGreever
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