In order to live life to the fullest we need to be ALL IN financially, which requires that we earn money ethically, spend money wisely, avoid destructive debt, save consistently, and give generously.
Do you have the drive and determination to take the realistic steps required to change your personal money management system? Do you have enough faith in God to believe He will bless you when you commit to following his way with your finances?
Next Steps
- I will take the 3 Month Tithe Challenge.
- I will text “Tithe” to 925-275-5520.
- I will take Financial Peace University and get out of debt.
- I will move from giving nothing to giving something.
- I will move from occasional giving to consistently giving each month.
- I will begin tithing.
- I will move toward sacrificial giving.
Full Sermon Script
Alright, this is week two of our series, “All In,” about the power of commitments.
It’s a remarkable thing to be able to say:
I’ll be there for you. You can count on me.
I’ll volunteer for Night to Shine. You can count on me.
The power of commitment is a remarkable thing. But we talked last week about how we live in a society that fears commitment.
“If I make a commitment, that means I give up my freedom, and I don’t want to give up my freedom. I don’t want to give up control. I don’t want to give up my individuality.”
There’s a lot of fear around commitment in our society.
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However, there’s an alternative opinion that says it’s actually only when you make a commitment that you’re free to find the kind of life God intended for you to live.
We actually find ourselves, our identity, in the commitments we make.
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We looked at a great story last week about Elisha whose commitment to follow God was so strong that he burned the plow.
It’s a picture of being all in — “I will not go back to my old way of life. I will follow God.”
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This series is about being “All In”… and the tension between freedom and commitment.
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Today we’re looking at an area where probably more than any other area, everyone wants freedom… and that is financial freedom.
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It’s ironic that we’re looking at it this week.
I feel kind of bad telling you about this, but my own ticket to financial freedom actually came just this week… in a letter.
I don’t mean to make you feel bad, but I have to read this to you because it’s so exciting.
It says, “Matthew W VanCleave, you have been preselected…” Not just selected… preselected.
They are so excited about me, they selected me before they selected me. In theological circles, this is called double predestination.
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The letter goes on, “…in this new year with your new card…”
This is from people giving me a brand new card. I didn’t even ask for it. They just sent it.
“…you can exercise your new financial freedom. People with outstanding financial credentials like yours deserve an outstanding credit card like ours.”
It’s actually the platinum gold double uranium card. You have to keep it in a lead-lined wallet.
The letter goes on, “Our credit line matches your financial intelligence.” In other words, I get the smart rate reserved for smart people.
Apparently dumb people have to pay an even higher kind of dumb tax.
“Plus, with every dollar you spend, we will give you bonus points that raise your credit ceiling.” In other words, if I borrow everything I can today, I’ll be able to borrow even more tomorrow.
“With a great rate like this, it makes sense to use your card and use it often. The sooner you start using your card the sooner you start saving!”
Just do the math. The more I spend, the more I save.
Now to give me even more freedom, no matter how much of their money I use, they will let me make minimum payments that are just a fraction of what I actually owe them.
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Then there’s some stuff that’s really unimportant, so they put it in fine print.
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But I want to actually look at this with you for just a moment (the fine print stuff) because this is very interesting.
Remember, this is my ticket to financial freedom.
Here’s how they figure it out.
The average credit card debt at the time this got figured out was a little over $10,000. The interest rate of this particular offer is a low 24.99 percent.
Therefore, the minimum payment I could make on this much debt is $200. That’s hardly anything.
You might want to know, if I make the minimum payment, how long would it take for me to be free and clear?
It’s an interesting thing.
Let’s say I make the minimum payment every month (never miss a single one), and I do this for a decade.
After 10 years, I will have paid $25,230, but I will now owe $11,051.
If you’re perceptive, you will have noticed I actually now owe more than I did when I got started… because of the way interest and the minimum payment works.
Let’s say I were to double my efforts.
Let’s say I go another 10 years. I don’t miss a single minimum payment.
By year 20, I will have paid $53,112, but I now owe $12,213.
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I’m a person of perseverance, so I keep going.
For 50 years, I’m making minimum payments every month. By year 50, I will have paid $155,611. And I will owe $16,484.
I’m probably close to dying at this point, so I pass on this loan to my kids after I die.
Now they extend it out, by year 100 (I’m not making this up), my kids and I will have paid $412,116, but my kids will now owe $27,172.
You see, it turns out, the freedom to acquire and borrow ends up being a kind of bondage in a lot of ways.
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But there’s this alternative opinion.
There’s this alternative wisdom that is deeply imbedded in the kingdom of God about the role of commitment in our financial lives.
And Jesus put it like this:
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Luke 6:38
This is a commitment that leads to freedom in all areas, including financially.
“Give… and it will be given to you.”
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Now as we get into this today, I want us to be careful because Jesus is not giving us a sneaky way to get more money. — “If you give, then God will give you more.”
There’s actually a kind of perversion of the gospel, called the “prosperity gospel” that says, “If you give, it’s just a way to get God to make you richer and richer.”
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I won’t mention him by name, but I know of a high-profile television preacher who has actually literally said these words:
“I gave away an expensive pair of shoes, and three or four more pairs of shoes came back to me. I gave away several watches, and this very expensive Rolex watch ended up on my wrist.”
Jesus isn’t telling you how to get an expensive Rolex watch.
He’s simply saying our God is a generous God, and God loves generosity.
When we become generous people, we step into a dynamic that is deeply imbedded in the way the kingdom of God works.
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Jesus makes a very interesting statement —
For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
In other words, if I practice a little amount of generosity, I will experience a little amount of the kingdom of God — the joy and the confidence and the trust and the events that come with God’s generosity.
If I practice a lot of generosity, I will enter into a much deeper experience of the presence of God and the kingdom in my life… including in my financial life.
An important question is, “What measure will I use?”
Jesus says, “For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
“Give, and it will be given…”
Again, that’s not a prosperity deal. That’s not a sneaky way to get more. This is just life in the kingdom of God.
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We live in a culture that will send us all kinds of messages like:
Hold on to what you have.
Look out for number one.
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But I’ve noticed over the years that as people begin to grow spiritually, generosity becomes more and more a part of their lives.
They tend to go through Stages of Generosity
And that’s what I want to talk about today.
I want to walk through four of those stages with you today. And then ask you what measure you are using.
What measure do you want to use?
Where are we at as a church?
Where are you at as a follower of Jesus if that’s who you are?
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Here we go. The first stage is…
Give nothing
At this stage someone is simply not giving anything, anywhere.
This will involve more people than you might guess.
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A sociologist at Notre Dame, Christian Smith, has done a lot of work in this area.
In one study he did, he learned that 1 out of 5 Christians in America give nothing to charity — nothing whatsoever, to either religious or secular causes.
1 in 5 Christians in America give nothing at all.
Among people with no faith, that percentage is even higher.
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Now at each stage, there will be thoughts going on that keep us in that stage.
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It’s interesting about people who give nothing — what will keep you at this stage isn’t what you think. It’s what you don’t think.
Most people who give nothing are not thinking, “I’m not giving anything.”
You’re also not thinking about what you could be giving.
You’re thinking about what you don’t have.
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This is from the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament.
Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. Ecclesiastes 5:10
Interesting, isn’t it? Whoever loves money never has enough.
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This experience of, “The more I get, the less I’m satisfied” in our day is actually being called affluenza.
It’s a combination of affluence and influenza — the wealth sickness.
This started with a teenager who got into legal trouble, and his parents got lawyers to fight to get him off with the plea that he’s suffering from a disease — that he has been so spoiled, he has been so entitled by so much stuff, that he is afflicted with affluenza, and it has impaired his ability to know right from wrong.
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Now, the writers of Scripture do not say if you have a lot of money, you’re exempt from moral responsibility.
But they do say money… and the love of money… and an obsession with money can make us kind of crazy, that it will be associated with a certain way of thinking.
The apostle Paul said to young Timothy:
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:10
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The number one tool the Evil One will use to keep you in the “give nothing” category (if that’s where you are) is simply distraction. It’s just distraction!
It will just be that you don’t think about, “What am I giving, or what I am not giving?”
You’ll just think about other stuff… and feel like, “I would never be able to give, because there is just too much stuff I don’t have.”
A lot of people are just captivated by that.
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A second thought that will be common for people who give nothing (which is a lot of people in our culture and 20% of people who claim to be followers of Jesus) — the thought is —
“Poor people must not be like me. Poor people probably don’t work hard like I work hard. They probably don’t have the ethic I have. They probably don’t mind being poor. They’re probably just different.”
It’s very interesting — a lot of people live with the thought, “If I had more money, I would be more generous.”
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The fact is — statistically, the lower someone’s income, the higher a percentage of money they give away.
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It’s very interesting when we think about the basic expenses of life.
When I was a kid growing up, a standard rule of thumb was about 10 percent of your income should go toward housing.
Has anyone noticed in California that’s kind of crazy?
In areas like ours, experts will sometimes talk about 30 percent. Maybe 30 percent of your annual income ought to go toward housing.
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I want to ask you to take a guess. Turn to the person next to you. Guess how much of the annual household income gets eaten up by housing in East Palo Alto? If you don’t know East Palo Alto, it’s a poor community on the Peninsula… in one of the richest areas in the world.
Turn to the person next to you. Just take a wild guess. What percentage of the annual household income from one household gets eaten up by housing in East Palo Alto?
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This is from a ministry in East Palo Alto called Able Works. The correct figure is 105 percent.
Now, how is that possible?
I’ll tell you how. You get 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 families crammed together in a little space that was built for one family. There are a whole bunch of people trying to live in a facility that was never built for that many people.
They do it day after day, week after week, year after year. That happens in the Bay Area.
See, when you live and you don’t have resources, you generally live really close to other people who don’t have many resources, and they’re real people. They’re your brother or sister or your mom or dad. You ache to give to them, and you do.
But if you have a lot of resources, there’s this kind of weird thing where under-resourced people just become kind of an abstraction… just a number.
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You see, the Evil One will keep us thinking that way, and that’s part of what supports the mindset that says, “I’m okay with not giving anything.”
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But that’s not where the kingdom of God is.
Give, and it will be given to you… For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
A lot of times when you get to know God and you begin to pursue spiritual growth, you’ll say, “I have to get out of that category. I just can’t keep living without giving anything.”
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And that will often lead to the next stage, which might be called…
Occasional giving
If I’m here, “I’ll give sometimes… but it tends to be pretty sporadic.”
“If I’m at church and the offering basket goes by, it might be kind of embarrassing to give nothing, so I’ll pull out my wallet, and I’ll take a look.
“If I have a bill in it and it’s not too small (because that would look goofy) but it’s not too big (because that wouldn’t be good), if it’s the right amount, I’ll throw it in the offering.”
Or, “If I see an ad for a hungry child in another part of the world and I get moved in the moment, then I might give.”
“But I don’t want to be committed. I don’t want to be tied down. I’ll just give when the Spirit moves me.”
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In that research I mentioned by Christian Smith at Notre Dame, one guy (a follower of Jesus) said — “Jesus said we are to give as we feel led.”
Can anyone tell me where in the Bible Jesus said, “Give as you feel led”?
You’re not going to find that one in the Bible.
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The apostle Paul does say, “God loves a cheerful giver,” but the idea is not, if you’re not cheerful, don’t give.
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There’s this weird thing where if I give based on guilt, the problem with it is… when the guilt goes away, my motivation to give will go away.
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There’s an old story (true, as far as I know). The IRS has an anonymous account where, if people have been cheating the government out of their taxes and their conscience bothers them, they can actually send money anonymously.
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Supposedly it got a note one time:
“Dear IRS, I have been cheating you on my taxes for years, and my conscience is bothering me. Enclosed find a check for $1,000. If my conscience doesn’t feel better, I will send the rest.”
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The idea is, “If I’m just giving as a way to clear my conscience, well then when my mood changes, then my giving will change.”
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The writers of Scripture have quite a different kind of message around giving. This is what the apostle Paul said:
Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up… 1 Corinthians 16:1-2
In other words, giving ought to be systematic, it ought to be proportional in keeping with your income, and it ought to be intentional — “saving it up.”
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This leads to the next stage of giving that will often occur with people who are growing spiritually, and that is…
Tithing
I want to talk about this because this is important for our church and for following Jesus.
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Tithing is talked about quite a lot in the Bible.
In the Old Testament book of Leviticus, we’re told to give…
A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the LORD. Leviticus 27:30
There was this teaching that the first tenth simply belongs to God.
They wouldn’t even talk about giving an offering. They would just say, “We bring our tithe.”
So actually, technically, tithing is not giving, it’s returning — it’s returning what belongs to God.
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A question about this then is, “What exactly does it mean to tithe?”
I want to talk about this because the word tithe will get thrown around a little loosely.
Someone will say, “I tithed $5 last week.”
Well, it would be tithing $5 if you earned $50.
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A tithe literally means one-tenth or 10 percent. To tithe means I give 10 percent to God out of the income He has blessed me with.
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Part of the teaching around this is that I give the first tenth.
The Old Testament was written in an agrarian economy so that usually meant crops.
They would use the word “firstfruits.” I give the very first tenth.
This means if I’m paying my bills, the very first check I write is 10 percent that goes to God.
For those of you who don’t know, a check is a little piece of paper we used to use that is just like cash. Cash is a little piece of paper that works kind of like a check.
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Tithing is something I do with the first 10 percent.
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Another question around tithing is:
“Wasn’t tithing part of the Old Testament Law Jesus came to free us from?”
Let’s talk about this for a moment, because sometimes you’ll hear an idea like this one.
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Actually, tithing goes back before the giving of the Law.
Moses was at Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. He brought the Law.
Tithing was practiced actually a long time before then.
Abraham, who came way before Moses, gave to a priest named Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had. It actually goes back before the Law.
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Then when Jesus comes along, he doesn’t actually say, “Now that I’ve come, you don’t need to tithe anymore.”
In fact, he does mention tithing in the gospel of Luke. Jesus says:
What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. Luke 11:42
In other words, Jesus says tithing is a good thing, but it’s really kind of like having training wheels on a bike. It’s going to move you toward justice and generosity.
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One of the ways I think about this one is:
From 0 percent to 100 percent of everything I have. If 10 percent is here… does being generous mean giving less than 10 percent or more than 10 percent?
Well, for me for sure it’s going to be on the more side.
And my guess is for a number of people who are listening right now, after Jesus came and brought the love of God and gave his life for us and gave us the Holy Spirit, probably being generous is not going to be to the left of tithing.
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You see, tithing can be a helpful benchmark — not a legalistic thing — but a kind of gauge, or a concrete way of asking, “Am I growing in generosity?”
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Here’s another question some people will have when it comes to tithing — “What if I can’t afford to tithe?”
This is really interesting. This actually is the primary thought that will keep most people from tithing.
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In the research Christian Smith did, only about 10 percent of people who follow Jesus give a tenth or more of their income to God.
The number one reason behind it is, “I couldn’t afford to tithe. I can barely afford to live on what I’m making right now. I could never afford to do that.”
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It’s like the wealthy guy who became a follower of Jesus, and he found out about tithing. He said to a friend, “I made $500,000 last year. That means giving $50,000. I can’t afford to do that. Would you pray for me about this?”
So his friend prayed, “Heavenly Father, I pray that you would lower my friend’s income to the point that he can afford to tithe.”
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We tend to think, “I can barely make it on 100 percent of what I’m living on. I could never make it on 90 percent of what I’m living on.”
Well, God is not asking you to make it on 90 percent.
God is saying, “Trust me with the first 10 percent, and then see what you and I will do with your resources together.”
See, the money thing is really a trust thing. This is a fundamental principle that money will bring us around to.
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You cannot understand the value of money if money is your greatest value.
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It’s an old saying — Twenty bucks is twenty bucks.
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This is kind of a goofy story, but it makes the point.
There’s this old couple, Mel and Betsy. They go to a carnival, and there’s this pilot giving rides in an old biplane for twenty bucks. Mel really wants to go, but his wife Betsy says, “No, twenty bucks is twenty bucks. I don’t want to go on it.”
The pilot says, “Do you know what? I’ve been hearing that debate for decades. I’m tired of it. Here’s what I’ll do. I will take you up in this plane. If you don’t whine, if you don’t say a word, the ride is on me. But if you make a sound, you each have to pay twenty bucks.”
They get in this old biplane. He goes up in the sky.
It’s an unbelievable ride. He is doing like barrel rolls, somersaults, loop de loops.
He goes around twice, not a peep out of them.
He lands the plane. He says, “That’s amazing. That was the most daring ride I could give you. I can’t believe it, but I didn’t hear a sound. You didn’t make a peep.”
Mel says, “Well, I almost did when Betsy fell out of the plane.”
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Twenty bucks is twenty bucks.
Except here’s the thing.
Followers of Jesus said, “Five loaves and two fish are five loaves and two fish… except when you give them to Jesus. Then they’re not just five loaves and two fish anymore. Then God does amazing things with them.”
Twenty bucks is twenty bucks, except when you give it to Jesus… and then you never know what he will do.
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There’s a passage in the book of Malachi. God says:
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” Malachi 3:10
As far as I know, in all the Bible, the only place where God invites people to test him is in this business of tithing.
It’s like he knows we’re so afraid… we’re so unlikely to do that.
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Now the number 10, when you study its meaning, is a very interesting number biblically. Do you know what the number 10 means in the Bible?
It means ‘test.’
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Think about this:
How many plagues were there in Egypt to test Pharaoh’s heart?
How many Commandments did God give to test our obedience?
How many lepers were healed to test to see who would come back to give gratitude to Jesus?
Jesus told a parable in Matthew 25 about bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom — they had their preparedness tested. How many bridesmaids were there?
How many disciples were there?
There were actually 12. I was just testing you.
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Throughout the Bible, the number 10 is associated with testing.
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And God wants to know, “Will you love and trust money, or will you love and trust me?”
Will you return 10% to God?
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And if some of you cynical types are saying, “Is Blue Oaks having financial difficulty right now? Is that what’s driving this?”
Check our budget.
We’re right on budget. We’re having a great year. We actually had the largest giving month in December in our history.
This is not about Blue Oaks. This is about you and God, that’s all.
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This is what the writer of Deuteronomy says. This is from the Living Bible. If you’re taking notes, you should write this one down. It says:
The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives. Deuteronomy 14:23
God is actually testing you. He wants to know if you’re going to be faithful.
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It’s like God is saying, “Will you love and trust money, or will you love and trust me?”
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God wants to know, “Will you love and trust money and things, and material resources, or will you love and trust me?”
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Jesus said in Luke 16:
Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Luke 16:10-13
He’s testing you.
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You see, here’s what God knows — God knows that for most of us money and things will be the number one competitor for our hearts.
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Truthfully, many of you, you’re going to find yourself wanting to be defensive as you hear this.
And the reason is because for most of us, money is the number one competitor for our hearts.
Money promises what only God can provide.
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Let me tell you what I mean.
Let me give you four things money promises:
Money promises security; if you have more, you will be secure.
Money promises freedom; if you have more, you will be free.
Money promises power; if you have enough, you will be powerful.
Money promises significance; if you have enough, you will be important.
But in reality, only God can provide security.
You can have millions of dollars, but when your kid gets hit by a car, you realize all the money in the world doesn’t make you secure.
Only God can provide true freedom.
Only God can provide true power.
Only God can provide true significance.
You can have all the money in the world, but it’s only through Jesus that you find true security, freedom, power and significance.
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You know what money is?
Money is a counterfeit god.
It wants us to love money, to worship money.
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And God wants to know, “Will you love and trust money, or will you love and trust me?”
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That’s why Jesus said this very clearly:
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Luke 16:13
Interesting isn’t it?
He could have said you can’t serve both God and your job, or both God and your house, or both God and power; but, he said, “You cannot serve both God and Money.”
Because He understands that money is a counterfeit god.
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Are you going to love and trust money, or are you going to love and trust God?
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If the prophet Malachi stood before Blue Oaks today, he would say, “Hey Blue Oaks, I don’t care what you think of me. I don’t care what the opinion polls are saying about me and my prophetic word from God.”
Malachi would say, “Hey Blue Oaks, you’ve got to do a heart check — Do you love and trust money, or do you love and trust God?”
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And Malachi was just straightforward enough he’d probably say, “Some of you have heart disease. You need to get it treated.”
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Jesus said, “There’s always a clear winner in the God versus money battle.” — “No one can serve two masters. One will always win — God or money.”
Malachi’s question to you today is who’s the clear winner in the God versus money battle that rages in your heart?
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So we’re going to do something as a church to show God that money is a counterfeit god in our lives.
It’s something called the Tithe Challenge. We’ve done this before.
And the idea is real simple.
For 3 months, tithe. Return to God the first 10 percent of whatever God gives you.
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And then, at the end of that 3 months, if God is clearly not involved in your financial life, if it is clearly not sustainable, Blue Oaks will refund everything you’ve given during those 3 months.
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Put God to the test, because I believe, you will see the hand of God at work in your finances.
“Test me” God says.
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If you want more information about the 3 month tithe challenge, check the box on your connect card that says tithe challenge. Make sure you include your name and email. And place that in the offering basket when it goes by later.
Or you can Text Tithe to 925-275-5520
If you decide to take this challenge, I’d really like to know… because I want to be praying for you and I want to send a weekly email to encourage those of you who are participating.
So be sure to sign up through text or your next step card if you plan on participating.
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Alright, there’s one more level I just want to say a word about.
Sacrificial giving
Jesus was watching people give one time, and there was a widow. She gave two of the smallest coins that existed.
As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4
Jesus said to his disciples, “She’s given more than everyone else, because she just trusted God with everything.”
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Some of you know way more about this than I do, but Kathy and I have tasted this at points in our lives.
We have always tithed to our local church. And we also give to other ministries. And we sponsor children through Compassion International.
But there have been times in our lives when we have felt like adjusting our lifestyle or doing something out of the ordinary in order to give more.
The Every|One initiative was an example of that, where we gave 10 percent to the building fund in addition to our tithe to the general fund.
And I have to tell you, we have not struggled financially in the last three years living on 80 percent of our earnings. As a matter of fact, God has continued to provide way more than we need.
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I was talking to someone who gives over 30 percent of what they earn to God. He said, “We haven’t hit the pain point yet.”
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You know, the biggest risk you can run financially is to not trust God with your money and forget that one day your life is going to end, and money is not going to save you.
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I read a parable this week.
A guy gets visited by an angel, and the angel says, “I’ll give you anything you want.”
He said, “I would like a copy of the Wall Street Journal from one year into the future.”
He gets it, and he goes immediately to the stock market. He starts writing down stock prices. He’s thinking, “I’m going to make a fortune this next year.”
Then he looks over, and on the obituaries page, he sees his name.
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Here’s the deal.
Money doesn’t love you.
Money didn’t die on a cross for you.
Money can’t save you.
But God loves. And God loves to give.
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To be part of the kingdom of God, to just test God in this and say, “God, I’m going to trust you with my finances,” leads to a kind of financial freedom that spending or acquiring never will.
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Give, and it will be given to you… For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Let’s measure really well living as we do in the greatest wealth-producing center in the history of the human race. Let’s use a really good measure.
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Would you join me in prayer?
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Heavenly Father, you know the truth about us. You know we’re just easily scared when it comes to finances.
It will just feel to us like our security or our identity or our worth or our success or our peace or our satisfaction is all wrapped up in a house or a bank account or a lifestyle.
Thank you, God, that you’re a generous God, and that you love to give. Help us to learn that kind of generosity.
Help us to follow Jesus with great courage and trust.
We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
