Faithful Stewardship

When we ask for church members for their commitment to sacrificial giving and fill out a pledge card we are not underwriting the budget, we are responding to God's call to give sacrificially. We respond because we belong to him.

There’s a marvelous story of this in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. He is taking up a collection for the poor church in Jerusalem. He doesn’t talk about what the money is going to mean to the poor people in Jerusalem, but rather what giving will mean to those who respond. He holds up the church in Macedonia as an example. That church was- poor also, almost as poor as the church in Jerusalem, but Paul says they begged to be allowed to participate in the mission offering. This was his descriptive word about the Macedonians: “First, they gave themselves to the Lord.”

Never forget, that we do not give to underwrite a budget; we give as a response to God’s call. God is calling for your life, your worship, your devotion, and praise. He is calling you to be a good steward — to show your gratitude for the blessings, but also your trust and dependency on Him. He is calling you to demonstrate your dedication, follow his commands, and test his promise, “Bring your tithe into the storehouse, and prove me,” says the Lord, “if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing you will not be able to receive.

Here is a great closing story. A prominent attorney tells of a moment of truth in his life. He was trying to get home for Christmas from a distant city. O’Hare Airport in Chicago was crowded, his plane was late, and he had to make a frantic dash for a connection. To make matters worse, a group of children on tour blocked his progress. The man fussed and fumed as he tried to make his way around them.

All at once his efforts were halted by one of the children, a boy with blonde, curly hair, and wide, blue eyes. The boy clung tightly to the attorney’s leg and, looking up into his face, asked “Who do you belong to Mister? Can I go with you? “

The lawyer confesses “My heart melted. It had been some years since I had felt the warmth of little arms around my legs. I put my hand on his head and tousled his curly hair, and I told him I wished he could go with me. Then I noticed that he and the rest of the children wore T-shirts with the name of some orphanage on them. When I was aboard the plane and headed home, I got to thinking, “To whom do I belong? Do I belong to my image of professional success, to my money, to my clients, to my fears and doubts to everything but those who love me, and to Christ whom God saves me?” (Don Shelby, “Who’s in Charge Around Here”, September 1984).

That’s the question: To whom do I belong?