God's Gifts. Our Giving.

One of the biggest frustrations in providing assistance to other countries comes when we hear of unscrupulous behavior, corruption and misappropriation of funds. We come across stories again and again where money donated to an international AIDS organization was redirected to a dictator’s private account. Or money given to a nonprofit organization gets embezzled by an employee with a gambling habit. In each of these cases we become indignant at the audacity of some people and wonder how they can live with themselves.

At times I wonder if God feels the same way about us. If God created everything, including us, and all that we have really belongs to God, then how is our accumulation and stockpiling of God’s gifts not a misappropriation of God’s blessings? If it is God who gives us our talents that we use to procure employment and reward, then should not a portion belong to God?

At some point in our life I think we need to take a God Audit. With the income of blessings and expenditures of necessities, is there an appropriate outpouring of thanksgiving? How do we view the balance in our bank accounts, large or small? Are these the sum total of our accomplishments, or are they really a result of good fortune and opportunity?

In reality all we have are God’s Gifts, poured out through Our Giving. Perhaps our blessings are really an opportunity presented by God to use his gifts to bless others.

It can be a rather intimidating thing to realize that God’s gifts for the world only get correctly appropriated when we give. But if that is true then one might think that the giving would never end or could never fill the world’s insatiable needs.

When teaching on the subject of giving I was once asked, “Does God want us to be poor?” At times we might hear scripture talking about giving away all we have and following Jesus, and feel it is a much too radical and idealized notion. The concept is not that God wants us to be poor, but that God wants us to be rich in his blessings, blessings that never were intended to stop with us. God blesses us to be a blessing to others. This was God’s promise to Abraham back in the book of Genesis, chapter 12:2 “I will bless you...so that you will be a blessing.”

This fall I invite you to take a God Audit. How has God blessed you with God’s Gifts, and how might God be calling you to be a blessing to others and to this congregation through Your Giving?