Joyful generosity seems to fall under the topic of money. Does the church really have a right to talk about money in church? Jesus seems to think so. In his account of the widow’s mite he praises the seemingly insignificant gift that the woman offered to her God. From an objective standpoint of dollars and cents it was small. However God saw that her whole heart went with her gift and he was very pleased.
There is a misconception that money is the problem in society. It’s the problem in politics, in marriages, in just about everything. Follow the money and you’ll find the problem. I’ve seen something like this in two different parent teach organizations. If there is a meeting to say where the money goes, people show up in droves. If there is a meeting to talk about service projects, not so many people.
So if you’re wondering why I would say that this only seems to be the case, it is because money is an inanimate object, a tool really. Money doesn’t have feelings. Money doesn’t hurt people. Money is what we use to exchange goods and services. The problem is the heart. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that money is the root of all evil. God does say in 1 Timothy 6 that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
This comes into play for the Christian because we are not immune to these temptations. One of the ways that we can guard our own hearts from greed and idolatry of our possessions is by looking at how God works into our lives. First everything belongs to him. So we don’t need to worry about accumulating wealth. Being a good steward is about taking care of his possession not ours. Want to learn more? Watch this first study in our three week series on stewardship, Joyful Generosity.
Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.