Go ask your neighbors, and they’ll tell you that they owe debt for credit cards, personal loans, home equity loans, mortgage, student loans, and more.
The average household owes $31,000 in car loans.
We just assume that debt is part of life, so we live beyond our income, assuming we will be able to handle that debt in the future. Yet, God has not promised us the next paycheck.
Nowhere in the Bible does God promise the college graduate a high-paying job. There are exactly zero promises of God that would encourage us to be comfortable living beyond our means. But God makes plenty of promises that would encourage us to be giving beyond our means. We call that sacrificial giving.
Sacrificial giving is giving in a way that, to human reason, stretches us beyond our means, to the point of taking what seem to some like foolish risks.
The apostle Paul—a missionary pastor sent by Jesus after he rose from the dead—taught about sacrificial giving by the example of some Christians he knew. “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability” (2 Corinthians 8:2,3).
Have you ever done something “beyond your ability?”
You just can’t believe it but you aced the calculus test, you asked her to dance and she said yes, you were trying to fix your bike and broke a piece of metal with your bare hands, you gave birth to twins after 20 hours of labor.
These experiences are bigger than we are, and that’s what happens when we give sacrificially. We find meaning in a cause greater than ourselves, and it draws us out of the safe harbor into an adventure we’d never have known if we’d played it safe.
Stop playing it safe. I know, we all prefer to have this safety net below us, a backup plan in case God fails. Let me ask you this: what was God’s backup plan for sending his Son to save you by becoming the sacrifice?
Did the Father back out? Did the Son hesitate or go into hiding? No holding back. He gave it all for you. That’s sacrificial giving.
So believe in him. Repent for playing it too safe. Take more God-honoring risks.
Empty your wallet into the special collection basket.
When you replace your old lawnmower with a new one, and think about donating the old one to church, donate the new lawnmower instead.
Leave a box open on your spreadsheet with inconclusive evidence that the numbers will work, and just write “God” in that box and trust in him.
Are you comfortable with your giving right now? If so, then raise it until you’re uncomfortable, and God is comfortable. That’s sacrificial giving.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I love you and your sacrifice for my sins. I love that you don’t hold back, and you take risks for me. Give me the faith and courage to imitate you, and to stop playing it safe. Help me to take God-honoring risks in my giving. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: Do some math and calculate the percentage of your annual income that you are offering to God at church. Is that a fit for your faith and generosity? Does it reflect your love for Jesus? It may, or it may not. Pray through it and ask for clarity.