The Cost of Giving (Part I)

Recently, I became involved in an extended email conversation with an old friend. He wants his church to become more involved in their local community. While his church is very active in supporting foreign missionaries that are really impacting their communities in terms of both spiritual and physical needs, they don’t do anything local except attempt to convince their friends to believe the right things and attend their church. This started me thinking about the true cost of giving and how my own level of spiritual development could be measured by the cost of giving. Looking, honestly, into your own heart is always an uncomfortable exercise.

Level One Giving – Money

The first thing we learn to give is our money. It is pretty difficult to open our pocketbook and return even a portion of our increase to the Lord. In the old covenant, Israel did rather poorly at paying their tithes on a regular basis. Sometimes, those Israelites who managed to honor the Lord with their first fruits on a regular basis, became so proud of their own sanctity, they fell into serious sins of the heart.

Matthew 23:23 (NIV)

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

After watching Christians at work over the last 40 or more years, I have concluded we are no better than those Pharisees. Often I have seen Christians engage in a form of giving that poisons their hearts with pride and avarice. They are utterly convinced that their giving establishes their own righteousness and guarantees God’s favor, even as they stiff waiters, underpay their employees, and cheat their customers.

Even if we avoid those traps, giving money is just a first step in a very long journey. Money is an important measure of serious intent. Giving is hard. Money is a form of potential energy that can only be used once. Giving to the Lord limits our options in this world. I think that is why God considers giving of our wealth an important first step on the road to spiritual maturity. He wants to teach us that ultimately, focusing solely on our wealth is an illusion that causes a great deal of pain and the ruin of many.

As we learn to give, we become a river of blessings. The river endlessly pours its water into the sea. The river does not worry about where the water it receives began nor does it worry about where its gifts to others might end. The river blesses the farmer and the thirsty, both man and beast, both the righteous and the unrighteous. It serves as conduit in an endless cycle from the sea to the sky, from the sky to the land, from the land to the stream, from the stream to the river, and finally from the river to the sea. When we give to our churches and other ministries, we have taken the first step in a long journey to the center of our own being and the Heart of God.