Faith

Jesus often finds it quite easy to get into someone's heart and begin to transform their lives as he promises to do, but so often he hits a brick wall when he tries to get into their wallet. For far too many Christians financial giving remains a taboo subject with folk often far more prepared to accept that they are sinful in their actions than they are to accept that their giving isn't up to scratch. And yet giving in the Bible is always an integral part of an expression of people's love for God. It's never something shameful to talk about, never embarrassing and never taboo. Jesus always tackled it head on and in a matter of fact sort of way.

The trouble is not so much that people love their money more than they love God ... I don't know anyone like that to be honest. No, the trouble is that our values and our budgeting tend to be back to front. The problem tends to be for most Christians that they would like to give more, but they can't find a way to do so.

There are a few really simple principles which can make a dramatic impact on your life, your faith and your giving ... but they do take some honest and practical work on your own and with your bank statements.

The first thing you can do, which is by far the biggest thing possible, is to place God's values in your wallet! ...or perhaps God's values in your bank account.

Many people today have multiple bank accounts, savings account, mortgage accounts and so on. Some have investment portfolios, ISA's, pensions, etc etc etc ... it can get very complicated. Imagine though that you have just one account which covers them all and in it you've got income and expenditure being carefully tracked, item by item. You can see what's coming in (Salary, pension, annual interest, gifts, bonuses, and so on...all the happy stuff which we love because our money is going up!), and then you can see what's going out (taxes, mortgage, utility bills, food, ...all the stuff we don't love so much because our money is running out again!). Now it's worth noting that for most people tax is deducted before it even reaches our accounts. We'll come back to this important point later.

So in our one big super account with all our ingoings and outgoings we then ask the question "What does my bank account say about how much I love God?"

Now, it would be wonderful if we lived in a world where we could manage to give God more money than we give to anything or anyone else. That perhaps is unrealistic ... although there are some who would live like this. No for most the answer is not in terms of how much we give, but in how we give. In fact for most this is the deciding factor in how well they give to God and how well they reflect their love for God in their finances. The answer?...

Put God first, give him what the Bible calls the 'firstfruits'. Plan and budget your giving according to your heart saying that Jesus comes first and nothing else is as important as Him. Most people don't do this, they pay the bills, and they pay the mortgage, they buy the food, the drink, the clothes, petrol, satellite tv, etc etc etc ... and then we see how much we have left to give God. We often end up disappointed or guilty because we would so love to give more and we can see the work the church is trying to do and can't, but there's just no money left over. What can we do? The spirit is willing but the wallet is weak!

Put God first! Budget according to the rule of thumb of 10% of your total income goes to God before anything else goes out. Start with your basic salary, what you get paid every month and put God first. Work out what 10% of it is and then set up a standing order to church for that amount. Some Christians like to set up the standing order to go out on the day that they get paid so they really do give to God first and then live life for the rest of the month on the 90% they've still got left to do whatever they like with.

Should you then give anything on the plate as it goes round during a church service? I would say 'No, not really'. Although as life happens other sources of income become apparent which you can also take 10% from and give to God's work. Inheritances come up every now and then, unexpected gifts, tax rebates, ...these sorts of things might allow you to make irregular 10% gifts of those pleasant surprises in life. Bringing those along to supplement your monthly gift are wonderful opportunities to continue to put God first and express your heartfelt love for Him right into your wallet.

With this simple principle in place it would be easy for anyone to look at your account and say "Here's someone who really truly lives out their faith, someone who truly values God very highly."

Of course the question is ... "but could we live on just 90%"?

Well, of course most people are already giving something, so the change isn't going to be completely 10%, perhaps more like 5% or 8% perhaps. Still though, it's a very real step of faith to trust that this might work.

I don't believe in the 'prosperity gospel' - the teaching from certain quarters in America which tells people to give more in order to be blessed more. The teaching says that if you give God $10,000 then you will have health, wealth and happiness returned to you! ...To be honest that's rubbish. God will bless you because He loves you, not because you've proved you're worthy of it! But there is one thing which I've found in my life, in good times and bad, when I've been rich and through many many years of being poor ... when I put God first each month with my wallet, I am more reliant upon Him, my values for living are far closer to being in line with His, and I am much more aware of the little blessings He sends my way. Through all these things I would say my life is much much better than if I'd kept all the money myself and squandered it on living just like anyone else in the world. I would also say this ... as poor as we have always been as a family God has never let us really falter. It's come close at times but he's always been there for us and has always known our needs ... and often provided for them pretty miraculously.