By Jim Palmer
Spring is springing across the nation. Warm temperatures, blooming trees and flowers, the return of green grass, and bright, sunny, not too hot days are arriving. We are approaching the perfect time for: picnics!
Is anyone planning a weekend picnic, birthday party at the park, or even a Memorial Day get together? What if on the day of the outside event it turns out to
be a cloudy day? The forecast calls for no rain in the area; just an overcast day. How would those clouds influence your decision to host an outside party? I venture to guess the influence would be minimal if any. You would likely proceed with your outside event just the same as if it had been a sunny day. But what if rain was not only in the forecast, but also, on the morning of the event you awoke to light rain? And upon consulting your nearest internet connection or local television radar you saw the dark green mass to your west bearing down on your area? How would that influence your decision-making for the day’s plans? Again I would venture to guess that your morning of preparation might include a change of venue – to someplace inside! While clouds and maybe a little wind would have virtually no impact on your decision to host an outside event, the rain would influence your decisions and actions rather dramatically.
Question:
What impact is your giving having on the church – and as a result – the world? Proverbs 25:14 says that “whoever boasts falsely of giving is like clouds and wind without rain.” What kind of influence do your spending habits and charitable giving have on the work of the church, your community, and the world around us? Are you all clouds and wind or does your giving ‘pack a punch’ like a rainy day“?
“Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your
increase,” says Proverbs 3:9. Consider the income that the Lord has provided to you: Do you give to God before you give to self? And when you buy something, a possession, does it honor God? Does the ‘adult rated’ video game, R-rated movie, tobacco, or alcohol honor the Lord? What influence is your checkbook having?
We must make it a point to “ do good, ”to “be rich in good works,” “ ready to give,” and “ willing to share .” In doing so we will “store up for (our)selves a good foundation for the time to come, that (we) may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:18-19). It has been said that if one would show his checkbook (where he spends his money) and his calendar (how he spends his time) one would show where his heart is. What heart-indicators do you see when you examine your life? Or consider 2 Corinthians 9:7-14 for a conclusion to the matter:“
So let each one of us give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written: He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever. Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you.”
For Christians, it is beyond time for us to put our money where our mouth is. It is time to take action to have a positive influence on the world, using our checkbooks to correct spending habits that support and promote evil and instead increase our giving for the good. In doing so, we will be taking a positive step toward heeding Paul’s admonition in Romans 12:21 when he wrote, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Do you really want to make a difference, have an impact, influence the world for good? Make it a point to begin examining your spending habits as well as your giving patterns. Remove the items in your life that would tend to draw you away from God and instead find a cause that you can get behind and support financially. Maybe when Christians finally figure out how much money it takes to fund missionaries, support preachers, maintain a presence in a community, and produce high-quality educational media, both the Church and a lost and dying world will be the better for it and God will be glorified.
