Giving - Negotiation or Partnership?

Is giving to God a negotiation? How do I decide how much to give? How much is enough? Thomas Bandy talks about that in his book, Beyond the Collection Plate.

“In the world of declining church philanthropy that we are leaving behind, people within and beyond the church make the following assumptions: God requires many sacrifices of my time, talent, and money but fundamentally my lifestyle and God’s mission are different things.

Secular media and ecclesiastical preaching make it clear that charity should hurt. Generosity should not be joyous or fulfilling or rewarding; it should require careful negotiation between my preferences and God’s preferences so that giving is neither too easy nor too hard. It is not just a belief that my needs should come first (my tastes, my family concerns, my health issues), nor even that our needs should come first (our church property maintenance, our harmony, our traditional music), but that these self-serving needs are legitimately distinct from whatever God happens to be “about” this year.

In the world of thriving church faithfulness that is emerging, people within and beyond the church make different assumptions; God requires only one sacrifice – myself– and therefore, my lifestyle and God’s mission are one. The real issue is not whether I am willing to give up my life to acknowledge Jesus, but whether I am willing to give up my lifestyle to follow Jesus…..my concerns and your concerns merge into God’s concerns. The resulting urgency makes the budget lines for our church property, our worship harmony, and our traditional music look rather petty.”

The closing thought in the book said, if the cause is big enough, bold enough, and Biblical enough, we will give everything we have.

The book is Beyond the Collection Plate by Michael Durall and the introduction I quoted is by Thomas G. Bandy.