Sowing Generously

Originally posted April 12, 2010
This is the first time that I can recall my men's devotional overlapping directly with the reading for the sophomore guys group I lead. I happens we are going through 2 Corinthians and we are in Chapter 9. Today, Rick Warren made a great point out of verse 10.

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
The important note is the origin of the seed. God can provide water from a rock, speech from a donkey, or honey from a lion. Sometimes we get caught up thinking he can only provide for us in one way. We get locked into our jobs and worry or fear of losing the source of seed creeps in. But we need to recognize that God has plenty of seed and he may be calling you to a new place in your walk in order to continue to receive that seed. So listen up.

But reading the passage as a whole made me ask the question, what did my parents teach me about money matters? What did you learn growing up about money matters?

As a kid, I was one of those that saved my money for no particular reason, although I do remember the bike I really wanted....$80. It was at BI-MART, a club shop where we literally got buzzed through the door like security. I started saving for that bike. I must have had close to $70 when Christmas rolled around. For some reason, I didn't even think that Santa might bring that bike - but he did. And what happened to my $70, I may never know. Money wasn't important to me. So my guess is I just kept saving it.

During this same time in my life, I can remember my mom paying bills at a large roll top desk. She would talk about the importance of it. But perhaps most important was the gift she gave me when she told me about the credit cards. They had three credit cards in my memory. Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. They used Discover EVERYWHERE they could. I asked why.

So Mom expressed the importance of first, never spend what you don't have. So in other words, if you don't have any money in the bank, you need to put away the credit cards. You can't spend money you don't have.

Second, she expressed the importance of always paying off your credit cards. Remember in the 80's when interest rates were through the roof? I don't. But she pointed out that if she spent $10, and didn't pay off her balance, that whatever she bought for $10 now cost $12. And wouldn't it have been nice to spend that $2 on something else? Then showing me a $200 credit card bill made me figure that it was now worth $40 additional dollars just to spend money I didn't have.

At the time, Discover was the only rewards card out there. They gave 1% back on all their purchases. So then she pointed back at the benefit of Discover. Now for $200, we got $2 back. Over the course of a year, we could get a fist full of dollars.

Today, the rewards cards are insane. You can get 5% back on specific purchases. We regularly check between our MasterCard, Discover, and American Express to see who is giving the highest percentage based on where we are shopping, hardware store, groceries, gas, travel, etc... And as a result, my wife and I have nearly $1000 in reward money to spend.

That's paying attention to 1) never spend what you don't have 2) always pay off your balance and 3) use cards that pay you to use them.

To get back to the scripture, some of you out there may think, that's fine if you aren't already in debt. But I don't make enough to do that. I believe that is a lie. Two things I would say to that. First, are you tithing?

Don't you hate that answer? The truth of that answer is that it hits you at the core of the issue. We read in Hebrews and throughout the Bible, that God desires obedience, not sacrifice. And with regards to money he throws down the gauntlet.

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 you will not have room enough for it.
So my second response is like it. Trust in the Lord, you are more valuable than the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. He will pull you through. And when you look back, you will be amazed.

When my wife and I were first married, we made less than $15000 that year. We were both going to school. We lived in a one room apartment. By working at a fast food restaurant, we found we didn't have to pay for as many meals, and in the end we didn't have to take out any school loans. Yet we were faithful in our tithe, and faithful in giving of our time and energy. During that year, we taught Sunday school and helped flooded people move out of their apartments. We actually were moved out ourselves. We lived in a dorm on the school's campus and hey - they paid for our meals. But as a reflection of how poor we were, we literally saved a gallon of milk from our condemned building because it was still mostly full. We hung it on a rope outside our window in the new dorms, just to not be wasteful.

Just because I'm faithful in giving to God, doesn't mean I can be wasteful. I must be a good steward. It may feel like sacrifice, but the blessing he has turned from those early days is so hard for me to count.