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Jewels in His Crown
Lu Dunbar
"He heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it." Psalm 39:6. As I have meditated on this passage of scripture, it occurs to me that since God’s economy is people, we
can know who will get it if we send it on ahead and store up treasure in heaven. What a rich example we can demonstrate to the world of new wealth by investing in the Kingdom and the work of
the Lord. What a welcome into eternity to be greeted by those who are there because we gave unselfishly, not knowing the people to whom we gave, but in faith and trust that our giving would
accomplish the work for which God intended!
A recent Time magazine article, "A New Take On Giving," quoted a gentleman who indicated: 'People don’t realize that you can have
a giving program that is totally selfish." How sad. I have recently been impacted by the thought that our tips in restaurants are 15% to 20%, yet statistics indicate that as Christians
we give about 2.5% of our income to the church. We don’t even think those who wait on us in restaurants are honored with a 10% tip any more—how much less we honor our generous, loving Holy
God!
What an opportunity we have to be joyful witnesses to the goodness of the Lord as we live out a "freely you have received, freely give" lifestyle. Matthew 10:8 We serve
as trustees of that which has been entrusted to us and are to ask the question, "What percentage do I receive for myself so that our estate might grow and profit and do good?" God
is an extravagant God who has lavished on us an incredible trust. How we invest and how we give are issues of obedience to God. Jesus calls us to obedience, to a theology of giving based on a
spirit of compassion and love.
What differences might we see in our homes, our communities, our country and our world if a group of thoughtful committed women joined together to live
out the verse of scripture in Matthew 10:8, "freely you have received, freely give?"
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