This week we continued our topic, "WHY GIVE?" by looking at some tips the Bible gives about how and why we should give.
1. GIVE CHEERFULLY
2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”
We should never feel forced or pressured to give. God wants us to give cheerfully. We can do that by giving as worship—by giving as a way to show God that we love him and that we want to do the things that are important to him. It’s also pretty easy to give cheerfully when you know that what you’re doing is making a difference or being a real help (like when we do MISSION WEEK or give in our youth offering). In fact, scientific studies show that when you feel that you’re making a difference and making the world a better place in some way, you’ll actually experience health benefits that include lower blood pressure, lower risk of dementia, less anxiety and depression, reduced cardiovascular risk, and overall greater happiness and fulfillment in life!
2. GIVE SMART
When I first got a job and had money, one thing that I quickly learned is that EVERYBODY’S ASKING FOR IT! I’m asked to give at church, when I go to the grocery store I’m asked to donate money to some cause by adding a few dollars to my bill. When I LEAVE the grocery store, I often see someone sitting by the door asking for money for some charity or organization (like cadets or girl guides). People will even come to my door or call my number asking me to give! It seems that EVERYWHERE YOU GO, people want you to give.
One of the important things I learned when I had money was that I needed to be SMART with the way I gave—meaning—I needed to give money, or I needed to volunteer in ways that were important to me personally. This is important because we each only have so much money to give away! We each only have a limited amount of time we can volunteer! Some good questions for you to ask yourself are—What are needs or causes that are most important to me? What are the things that God has wired into me that I feel passionate about? How does God want me to give? What would make him proud?
Another way to GIVE SMART means not to just throw your time or money away—but to use some wisdom when you give. In Matthew 25, Jesus told a parable about a boss who entrusted money to three of his employees before he went away on a long trip. Two of the employees invested that money and did important things with it. One of the employees decided to bury the money for safekeeping. Well, when the boss returned—he was thrilled with the employees who invested the money—but he wasn’t that jazzed with the guy who buried it in the backyard.
The point of Jesus’ story is that God has (and will) give us a lot. Life itself is a blessing—we’re alive for a reason—the time that we have on this planet is limited—and super valuable! The job you have or WILL have is a blessing—it’ll enable you to provide for yourself and a family one day. The Bible says that everything we have COMES from God. So, he’s ENTRUSTED all of those things to us—and expects us to invest our lives and money in things that are valuable and important—not just to waste it or not accomplish anything! The Bible talks about how we should be “GOOD STEWARDS” or “CARETAKERS” of the time and money we have. That means that we need to use our heads when we give.
Some examples of this might be to not give to a need or organization if you're not familiar with who they or to do some research into a charity to see how they'll use or spend that money before deciding to give. I really think that God is proud when we make smart, informed choices in how we’re going to use the money or time he’s blessed us with.
3. GIVE REGULARLY AND CONSISTENTLY
In the Old Testament, people were required to tithe (which we typically think of as giving 10% of their income/animals/produce to the temple, but was actually closer to 22%). This wasn't really giving-- it was more like the taxes we have to pay to the government. While some Christians still practice this today, the New Testament never really gives a magic number we're supposed to give (although it talks A LOT about being SUPER generous), but an important tip is that we give REGULARLY & CONSISTENTLY (this is seen in 1 Corinthians 16 where it talks about giving in a weekly church offering). That might mean giving 10%...or less or even MORE (as we saw in 2 Cor 9:7, it says we need to decide in our heart how much to give).
If you’ve ever wondered why churches ask for money and take up offerings it’s because the church is a CHARITY. If people don’t give, it can’t afford to do all of the things it does—which includes keeping the lights on and paying for a meeting place, paying the pastors they’ve hired to lead and teach them (1 Timothy 5:17-18), providing teaching materials, sharing God's love in the community, and supporting missions organizations in our community and around the world. All of those things are in a church's budget for a year. For this reason, a church (like other charities) DEPEND on regular and consistent giving to survive!
For example, the reason why you commit to giving a certain amount every month when sponsoring a child is because the organization & that child DEPENDS on you for help. If you were to decide to give $40 whenever you felt like it to sponsor a child—there might be some months where the money that child needed and depended on wouldn’t be there. Imagine if you worked full time, but your boss said that he would pay you whenever he felt like it—not regularly or consistently. So, it’s the end of the month—you need a certain amount of money in your account to pay for your rent and to buy groceries and depend on it to survive—but you never get it, or you get it weeks later. Wouldn’t that be stressful? Wouldn’t that freak you out?
When you give a certain amount on a regular basis—you are supporting a charity or organization in a much better way. You’re letting them know that they can count on your support and that they can depend on a certain amount of money to come in regularly. Same with volunteering. If you were a volunteer who only volunteered when you felt like it, the organization could never count on you. For example, if all of our volunteers decided not to show up at CATALYST on a given week, we would have to close the doors—because legally, we need a certain number of adult volunteers to run our youth program!
When you give or volunteer—it’s ok to do a “one-off” and give or volunteer as a one-time thing, but it’s far better when you’re committed to giving a certain amount on a regular basis so that the church or charity can depend on you and count on you and that money. When you grow up and start living on a budget—where you plan out how much you make and how much you spend, you can also budget and plan how much you can regularly give and where it’ll go.
Also, when you give regularly and consistently you tend to actually give more. A person is more apt to give $50 a month regularly than give $600 at one time during the year. It's actually the same total amount, but the $50 a month is FAR less painful. It's harder to give cheerfully when it's a HUGE hit to your wallet. In fact, if a person waited all year to give one amount, they might decide on giving $300, which is still a lot, but it's only half as much as they would have given if they had given a smaller amount regularly throughout the year. It's way more tempting to hold onto a bigger amount than a smaller one.
4. GIVE IN PRIVATE
-In Matthew 6: 1-4 Jesus says, “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you”.
Here, Jesus tells us not to be all show-ey and braggy about all of the ways we give—to not announce that you give certain amounts of money so that people think that you’re the most amazing person on the planet--- but that when we give, we should do it quietly, humbly, without calling attention to ourselves. God is not only proud of us when we give in that way, but he promises that we’ll experience rewards and blessing for giving in private! These days, when you fill out your taxes with computer software, there's even a button that encourages you to share the amount you've given throughout the year on social media. The whole reason why that feature is on there is for you to brag and let others know that you're God’s gift to humanity! “Look at me! Look at how much I give! I bet I give way more than you!” That's just not the way God wants us to give. He wants us to do it cheerfully, wisely, regularly and consistently, but he doesn't want us to brag about it.
DISCUSSION FOR HOME
1. Encourage your teen to be a part of our MISSION WEEK at Capital City Mission. When they return from their date at the mission, ask them about their experience. Why was it so important? How did our group help or benefit others? Did they feel good about the experience? What would happen if people gave up volunteering or giving money to support the mission? Let your teen know that you're proud of them for doing something that might have been outside their comfort zone.
2. Talk to your teen about how, when they start to work, it's important to decide a percentage or amount that they regularly give. Maybe share your own personal experience of how you budget to ensure that you can regularly and consistently support the church or another charity or organization. While the Bible says we should give in private, it's also important that we teach our kids about the importance of giving and to develop good giving habits.
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