Talking about money is never an easy thing, especially in church. As we entered into our theme “Generosity: a survival guide to financial crisis” we identified how while the Bible does specifically speak about money, the motivation and intention by which we use money is at the heart of the scriptures. As Christians we are called to be generous. Generosity and giving goes beyond money to the way we live each day.
In our Sunday talks we took a look at what it is to have a heart of generosity, the history of giving in the Bible, Jesus and giving, and giving beyond ourselves in missions. In these topics we saw a continuous thread in areas we have as resources to us. The four “T”s: Time, Talent, Treasure, and Testimony.
Time. Time is money, but more specifically it is one of the most valuable resources we have because it is so limited. In our Generosity series we saw that giving of ourselves meant investing our time with others. We saw how the ‘get rich quick’ greed of some caused problems for many, and how in the Bible, the tithe provided for the less fortunate. We found that the specifics of biblical giving are very much about the motives by which we live. Scripture to think about: Matthew 23:23.
Talent. God gives us each talent and abilities unique to us. It is these talents along with our time we trade for money at our jobs. We saw how God was interested in who we are and what we are doing with the talents we have been given. Instead of focusing on the ‘bigger and better’ we can live our lives with eternal meaning. Scripture to consider: Matthew 6:31-33
Treasure. We value many things in life, but none of these things should take the place of God. Through our Generosity theme we saw how be generous with our treasure can be worship to God, obedience to his commands, and a blessing back to us as we help others. Scripture to look at: Luke 18:18-27, Luke 21:1-4
Testimony. Each one of us has a story. We saw how by giving of ourselves generously in service to God can have a huge impact. This ties in directly to how we live our story of generosity beyond ourselves, giving so that others may know about the message of the gospel through missions. Scripture to consider: Matthew 28:19-20
Our prayer is that you live generosity in every aspect of your life: time, talent, treasure, and testimony.
Blessings,
JB