Security In Giving

Security In Giving

I’ve been reflecting on the peace that is available to us through this life. There’s the shallow shifting peace, the kind the world dispenses in a Baskin Robbins assortment. Then there’s the peace available to members of the upside down kingdom. We’ve been in a financial peace series at church and it’s caused me to reflect back on my own story of gradually loosening a tight-fisted grip on the resources God has entrusted to me to find a steadying peace that often passes understanding.

As a new believer, also newly married in 1993, there was a lot of anxiety around the $25k a year we made. I was still in college and my husband was in his first year of work post-college. There was enough to support our one-bedroom apartment and the almost 20-year-old cars we drove, but there was nothing left to spare.

This was why the debate regarding giving was very real for me. My biggest money influences to that point had been growing up in a household where fights about money were always top on the ‘to do’ list and there just never seemed to be enough. Even as a child, I recognized the pattern that every single time there was an unexpected influx of money it ALWAYS coincided with a disaster d’jour that consumed the money and the fleeting joy that accompanied it.

It took me years of our very gracious and patient Lord gently prying my grip from what we earned to teach me that giving really was the key to the financial peace I longed for. It’s just so danged counter intuitive to assume that giving would result in getting the very elusive thing you think you’d ensure by keeping it all for yourself. It is however, exactly what the Lord promises us.

Thank the Lord for the wise counsel we had that encouraged us to make regular giving a part of our budget. That started us on our journey. We decided we could part with $10 a week, although I wasn’t thrilled about the idea. Gradually over the years we would increase the amount, but always with a fair amount of trepidation on my part. Holding tightly felt like I was holding onto security, though it didn’t make me feel secure. All the while the Lord was patiently waiting for me to realize my provision was in Him.

Lord, thank you for teaching us to be faithful whether You provide a little or whether You provide a lot. You are our provision. Money is a very small part of this equation that has potential to unleash blessings. It must make the world scratch its head in confusion as to how we get peace through giving away what is “ours” but we trust Your perfect economy.

We continued to increase our giving as the Lord blessed our finances. Gradually a very strange thing began to happen. The girl who was always concerned about money began to see the fruit of what our giving was building into the kingdom of God. I began to connect to the ministries we were helping to support.

We continued to increase our giving as the Lord blessed our finances. Gradually a very strange thing began to happen. The girl who was always concerned about money began to see the fruit of what our giving was building into the kingdom of God. I began to connect to the ministries we were helping to support.

My focus shifted from stress over how much to part with, to excitement over how the money God had entrusted to us was directly answering desperate prayers. We were in a partnership with the Lord. We were making His great name known simply by being a conduit for His provision. My thinking moved away from loss and into peace with expectant joy to be partnering with our great God who was blessing me in ways I never imagined.