What do I need to get through? We can ask that question with respect to food or material goods or anything we consume. Indeed, I am not suggesting that people stop spending; however, I do suggest that we consider who we are and what we are doing by undergoing financial self-examination. This calls to mind the scene from "It's a Wonderful Life" when financial distress prompts the Building & Loan investors to try to withdraw all their money at once. After an impassioned speech in which George Bailey explains that such a response would kill the business, the first person in line demands all his money. But the second person in line, an older woman, responds differently. When asked "What'll it take till the bank opens? What do you need?" she thinks and answers: "Well, I - I suppose 20 dollars." As a bonus, George kisses her. Others follow her lead and withdraw only what they must have, and the Building & Loan lives to see another day.
When we figure out what we need, we figure out what we can do without. When we figure out what we can do without, we realize that we might be able to give something to our fellow man and still have something left over for our wants. Put somewhat differently, once we figure out what we need, everything else we have should be counted as a blessing. Oddly enough, self-examination, fasting and self-denial become the vehicles for our real freedom to be the best we can be.
To put it in the words of rapper T.I.: "Stop lookin' at what you ain't got / Start being thankful for what you do got." It may not be the King James Version, but the point is clear.
You might be asking yourself how much you should give and where your gift should be given. Well, I will leave that up to you. God certainly calls us to be wise and make sure that we give our money and time and thoughts to the work of God. We are not supposed to make televangelists rich by being poor stewards. But God wants us to remember that money can be a source of great blessing or a corrosive agent that can destroy our faith and our relationship with God. The choice is yours !!
[Sunday 28 October –“Commitment Sunday” // the date for the official ending of the GIFT campaign.]