Kingdom Giving

Our Monday Devotion comes to us from Council Member, Ray:

"Then He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings to God, but she out of her poverty has put in all the livelihood that she had." Luke 21:1-4

I’m currently hooked on the O.C.Register gossip column written by Timothy Mangan. Mr. Mangan is not only the resident classical music critic, but also sheds hilarious truths about the rich and famous. His daily column has become a staple for me, as it reflects my attitudes of this group perfectly (yawn…). We read about someone donating 80 million to this/that cause or hot-button, and thankfully, much will go to worthwhile Godly ministries, but it is all more a tax-dodge than a heartfelt sacrifice, as Dr. Luke is pointing out in this passage, from the Master Himself.

Personally, I would like to be able to achieve the level of giving that our departed and beloved Stan reached in his life, what is perhaps the highest standard possible, of perhaps 5 levels that I can think of:

1. The desire to give "something", out of guilt or respect or obligation, but missing the fact that "God loves a cheerful giver." I spent half my life in this mode, penny-pinching in the pew.

2. Tithing, which is really no more than the Biblical standard – expected – of a true giver, that first-fruits offering that is no more than what God should really demand of His money (it is all His).

3. Joseph’s standard of 20%, to store away some extra for a "rainy day". This is moving in to the areas of "Living beneath your means" and "delayed gratification", two areas that our modern culture does not embrace at all –even tries to convince us that we can have it all NOW, and pay later. How many folks really understand the underlying lie in that, that a credit card, with minimum payments every month, can extend the life of payments as long as 32 years, and 7 times the amount of the original price? The young folks that want to have their parents’ life style right now, will forever be broke trying to subsidize such folly.

4. Give it "all", as did the widow quoted above, or at least what is truly sacrificial giving – giving that deprives you of a pleasure, and helps someone else who is even more impoverished than you. This kind of giving is rare, and makes itself into the pages of the Bible…

5. Actual legacy giving (call it estate planning) like brother Stan did for our church, where he, who could have driven the newest, badest car, and lived in a mansion, chose to save huge amounts of his wealth for the benefit of our church, and therefore for the benefit of many others.

If you are like me, and have areas of selfishness (want an example in my life? I will offer one whether you do or not: we go to concerts. These are not mandatory, are not usually even necessary since we have most of the music on CD’s, but are just satisfying to our souls). Called the "latte" factor, most all have one or more, be it a latte, another tattoo, another suit or dress, etc. When we move to the level that brother Stan reached, I think we have finally arrived at true spiritual transformation (thank you, Pastor Fred, for Thursday’s phenomenal teaching about transformation – that was great stuff!).

I believe that our loving God will more than recompense such mature giving habits, and I recommend for us all (me too) that we strive to invest our hard-earned money in Kingdom giving, not worldly selfishness, because that’s the right thing to do! Here’s to lasting legacies of love! Thanks, Stan!

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