Benefits

The benefits of giving are seen by Christians every day.  But biblical truths are not just beneficial for the believer.   “Do not kill” is a biblical truth. You do not even have to know who God is for this truth to be meaningful in your life. God’s truth benefits believers and non-believers alike every day.  So His truth about giving are for the believer and non-believer.

As this blog is written for the purpose of Transformational Fund-raising and Transformational Giving here is an article passed on to me by one of our missionaries.  Why Fund-Raising Is Fun.

In this article the author mentions the benefits of being a charitable person.  So since being charitable is beneficial, then helping people be charitable is fun, because you know you are being a benefit to them if you help them become charitable.   

Here is a quote from Mr. Brooks  that caught me.  

 I have found that the real magic of fund-raising goes even deeper than temporary happiness or extra income. It creates meaning. Donors possess two disconnected commodities: material wealth and sincere convictions. Alone, these commodities are difficult to combine. But fund-raisers facilitate an alchemy of virtue: They empower those with financial resources to convert the dross of their money into the gold of a better society.

 Of course, not everyone shares the principles that motivate my institution’s scholars and supporters. But with millions of 501(c)(3)s and houses of worship nationwide, no one needs to wait on the sidelines and hope that politicians will marshal government power in service of their priorities. By investing their own time, talent and treasure, every American can bring his or her core principles to life. That can mean promoting literacy, conserving nature, saving souls or something else entirely. None of this is exactly revolutionary; after all, Jesus himself taught his followers, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

 What struck me is the reality that when our convictions are based on God’s Word, then combining His truth with the resources, or wealth, He has given to us, puts the donor on the front line of seeing God’s truth change the world.  By giving you can get off the sidelines.

Now that is beneficial.  

Looking up

An old hymn celebrates that when we turn our eyes upon Jesus the things of this world grow ‘strangely dim’.  I often think of this line in times of trouble.  But reality is: this truth needs to be lived regularly not just in hard times.  Think how life on a daily basis changes for the believer when the day is spent looking up to Christ.

There is a small book on giving called Plastic Donuts.  Jeff Anderson is the author and he tells of the joy he and his toddler had one day when she gave him the plastic donuts from her play kitchen. Watching the joy she had as she looked in his face as she gave him these toys donuts changed his view on giving to God.  One quote from his book says,

“After the plastic donut encounter I had with my daughter, my views on giving changed. I saw more clearly why the joys of giving seem so elusive. It is hard to experience it without looking up to the Father. Often instead of looking up with my gift I was looking down.”

That’s when the word to the old hymn hit me.  Turn my eyes upon Jesus in all I do, and the things of this earth will dim. In other words LOOK UP into the Father’s face.

Teaching TG and living it can help people look up to whom they give, not down to what they give from.  Look up to Christ not down at the check book.

Maybe look at it this way…in finances we always look at the bottom line.  That’s ok we need to see the bottom line (I am a bottom line kind of thinker myself). But to see the bottom you always have to look down, that’s why it is called the bottom.  May God help our giving to be turned upside down and we look up first before we look down at the bottom line. 

You know Jesus already taught us to turn our thinking upside down in the Sermon on the Mount.  Let’s do some upside down thinking in giving as well.  Rather than the bottom line determining our giving, allow God to determine our giving.  Look up first! Instead of a bottom line giver become a topline giver. Turning our eyes to Jesus will dim the things of earth, even the bottom line.  So when you give, look up.