God's gifts

In the Bible we are told ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine’ declares the Lord Almighty (Haggai 2:8). What we have is a gift: jobs, savings, pensions, borrowing, homes, possessions, large or small. It’s not our money. 

So we need to think about the words we use which frame and shape how we think and feel about stuff. In our best moments, as we kneel with humble hearts and open hands we instinctively know what the Bible teaches that: “all things come from you and of your own do we give you” (1 Chronicles 29).

Disciples believe we give because we have first received all things from God. The Bible word for this is grace, the very word Paul uses for his financial offering for Jerusalem which is a response to God’s gift, God’s grace (2 Corinthians 8:9). Grasp this, mind our language and we change the giving conversation completely.

To give in our Rule of Life means to give up our pride of owning stuff and to receive and see what we have as all God’s gift. If we can do that we can start to think about how we give generously and with gratitude which we explore elsewhere in this course.