Tag Archives: Giving

3.16.12 Giving Had a Beginning

     There’s a difference between learning to give and desiring to give. Giving doesn’t happen overnight, nor does it happen naturally. When we are born, we have a default setting to possess things rather than to give.  As toddlers didn’t we all assume that whatever was in our possession was ours? Anyone who dared to take it out of our hands heard a boisterous, defiant “Mine!!” We start out with a bent toward selfishness, and our parents have the task of teaching us to share. Parents have the opportunity to shape the hearts of their children toward giving at a very early age, and my parents did that. Just grasping that something I had in my possession could be shared with someone else at age two was an accomplishment on their part! 

     I was blessed to be raised in a Christian home. My parents did a great job of teaching me the why behind giving. At one level I was taught the importance of giving because God commands us to give a tenth (tithe) of what He provides to us. But there was a much greater lesson in giving. It was about acknowledging that we have a perfect Father in heaven who takes care of us, and our tithe is our way to cultivate a heart of gratitude toward God. How did I learn to give a tenth? My “income” was an allowance received for doing chores. I know there are debates about paying a child to do chores since chores should be a shared responsibility among family members. However, my parents utilized allowances as a way to teach me how to handle money and to give it. I learned that the allowances I earned were NOT all mine. I was taught to bring ten percent out of the allowance and put it in the offering plate, and the rest was divided between saving and spending. Learning to give a tithe early helped me to acknowledge God as my provider. 

     By the time I was old enough to work summer jobs through high school and college, giving to the Lord was so ingrained that it felt unnatural not to give. Then I entered into the workforce. Being an Accounting major, I gravitated to serving on the Finance Committee at my church to help steward God’s resources and prepare budgets. The experience of serving on this committee was an eye-opener. First, I saw how paramount it is for all members to tithe to support the budget. Our giving not only supported our pastors, but missionaries who were sharing the gospel around the world. I observed dollars going to the poor. I could see that the church allocated God’s money to God’s work. Second, I saw the frustration of staff when giving was not what it should be. The church could do so much more ministry if every believer was obedient to God’s command to bring in the firstfruit of their income into His church (Malachi 3:8-10).  There is plenty of data on giving patterns in the church, and I understand why staff get discouraged. According to ­Barna Research done in 2001, between thirty to fifty percent of active church attenders give nothing. 

     How depressing. As I served on the Finance committee, I could sense a callousness developing in my heart. Giving a tithe to support the church budget was an expectation from God, and I was going to be faithful to Him. But I began to operate in automatic pilot. The tithe check started to feel perfunctory. In fact, I started calling my checks “thank you” notes to God to get my heart more involved. But I wanted my heart to be engaged with giving beyond the experience of dropping my “thank you” note in the offering plate as it went by. There was an absence of joy in giving that’s described in Scripture.  If Macedonian churches in 2 Cor 8:2 could experience “overflowing joy” while “giving generously out of extreme poverty”, then surely joy is just waiting to be experienced in generous giving regardless of my level of resources. There has to be more to giving than increasing my percentage of giving to the church. I decided to do something about that. 

     It was New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2006, and I remember wanting a New Year’s Resolution for 2007. As the clock ticked, I decided that my resolution was not going to take the form of a goal. We all know how that goes! I decided that my resolution would be in the form of a simple prayer that I would commit to pray regularly throughout the year. This was my resolution for 2007: “Lord, help me to be a generous giver just like you.” 

     This prayer began to change my heart and my life.  God began a new work in my heart.  My giving went from something I should do to something I desired to do. God ignited a desire in my heart to share His resources as often as possible. I immediately altered my Excel budget spreadsheet. My old version had only one line item for my “thank you” note to the church. A new line item was added entitled, “Those in Need.”  I started with a fixed dollar amount and prayed that God would reveal to me those in need.  In return I would respond immediately. Luke 6:30 says, “Give to everyone who asks.” I trusted God to reveal who needed the resources without me judging the person, and He did so. The joy of giving took off!  I would wake up each day having no idea who God would reveal to me to share His resources, and I couldn’t wait!  If I had any remaining dollars that were not given, they were rolled into the following budget cycle as an addition to the set amount I had established. In addition, if expenses I budgeted for didn’t happen or were lower than expected, I took the extra and rolled it into the “Those in Need” line item as well. That line item came alive and is alive today!  It’s the one line item in my budget that has the most spiritual energy and gives me the greatest joy. 

     I thank my parents who taught me to give at a very early age.  I learned to give to God as a discipline, and this foundation remains my springboard to accomplish His purposes through additional giving. I also thank God for hearing my heartfelt prayer in 2007 and answering it!  I continue to pray this prayer. By God’s grace, I now experience the joy of giving and have transitioned from learning to give to desiring to give.  

Blessings,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Lee Ann

3.1.12 Can I Talk About Giving?

      We have a saying in Christian circles that goes something like this: “As an army of God we are the worst about shooting our own men.”  My blog crockpot has been heating up a topic I have been holding back for two years out of fear that I will get “shot” by more believers in Christ than anyone else who would read this.  I am afraid of being accused of sharing my heart on giving for personal attention, or to rob God of His glory, or to gain people’s approval.  At one level I don’t care what other people think because God knows my heart.  I should prepare to tune out those who would try to judge my motives for writing on this topic.  At the same time I’m human.  I care about how I’m impacting others through this blog.  However, I question if I have the emotional energy to take care of any critics.  Thus, this unresolved tension has been a key reason I have not written on giving sooner.

     There is a biblical passage that has also contributed to my resistance to write on giving.  Matthew 6:1-4 says, “Be careful not to practice righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.  If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.  So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others.  Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”  Randy Alcorn, the author of Money, Possessions and Eternity,  states that “we should be sharing our testimonies about giving to help the body of Christ grow in the grace of giving.”  He rightly observes that the above passage has hindered many Christians from telling their story, but he points out that the operative phrase in this passage is “to be seen by them”.  He says, “This is not a prohibition against others becoming aware of our giving, prayers, fasting, etc.  Rather, it’s a command not to do these things in order to receive recognition from men.  The Lord has used Alcorn to free me to talk about giving –understanding that some members within the Christian army will criticize me without understanding my motive. 

            So what is my motive?  I want to share how God has grown my heart in the area of giving and the rewards He has shown me.  I want to share the joy in financial giving.  I want to share how God is faithful to His promises around giving.  I want to share what God has been laying on my heart around future plans to give.  I am passionate about the possibilities He is showing me, and I want you to know what they are!  I believe the Lord is prompting me to write on this because He wants more Christians to catch the vision I believe He is showing me.  In addition, we aren’t talking enough about giving beyond the tithe.  We have been told for so long to “keep it a secret” that messages on financial giving tend to be limited to tithes needed to support a church budget.  I have been active in church all of my life, and I don’t recall any pastor encouraging giving testimonies.  I think if people could hear some testimonies around giving that was beyond tithing, many would be inspired to give more.  The joy of giving is too contagious not to share!

     The Lord has also given me a paradigm of living giving that I desire to share with others, which I began in my last blog.  If you read my last post, “Inheritances vs Living Giving”, you will see this paradigm that leverages the power of compounding when money is given while time is on the side of the investor.  I want to give you more ideas to ponder as you think about changing your family’s financial tree, while giving to the poor, the oppressed, the underdeveloped countries, etc.  Why develop this?  I think we’re missing the boat.  I think our mentality of giving is more like giving the leftovers, when we can be intentional about giving in our younger years and watch God grow the dollars over time.  It’s not about how much money you can give.  It’s about God’s ability to multiply His resources when we do our part to grow it.  This is based on Matthew 25:14-30, commonly known as “The Parable of the Talents”. 

     The cliff note version of this is that God gives one servant five talents, another servant two talents, and a third servant one talent.  (Talents are a form of money.)  The master goes away for a long time, and when he returns he wants to settle accounts with each servant.  The servant who was given five talents put them to work and gained five more talents.  The Master commended him and entrusted more to the servant.  The second servant with two talents gained two more talents while the Master had been gone, and the Master was just as pleased with this servant because he doubled what he had.  In both cases, the Master described these two servants as “good and faithful servants”.  The third servant with one talent buried his, and the Master got angry and accused him of being lazy and suggested that he could have at least put the one talent in a bank to grow some interest.  The consequence was that the one talent was taken out of this unfaithful servant’s hand and given to the servant who had ten talents.  God expects us to utilize the financial resources He gives us and do the best we can to grow it.  If we don’t, He knows how to move the dollars to faithful servants who will put it to good use!

     I have a story to tell, and I suspect you do too.  It is my hope that as I unveil how God has blessed my giving and develop the living giving model, some of you will share your giving stories with me.  In the coming months expect to hear more about this topic.  In fact, please begin praying about how you might participate in sharing your stories around giving.

Blessings,

Lee Ann

2.1.12 Inheritances vs “Living Giving”

     If you had the power to change your family’s financial tree, would you do it?  I think you can, and I will show how with one example.  Let me start with sobering statistics from Beating the Midas Curse by Perry L. Cochell and Rodney C. Zeeb: “In families where new wealth has been created by the first generation, six out of ten of those families’ fortunes will be gone by the second generation.  By the end of the third generation, nine out of ten families will be broke.”  The conclusion was 90% of all traditional inheritance plans fail.  What’s going wrong?  According to these authors, we are putting valuables ahead of values. 

     Giving is a growing passion for me, not just because I assist clients with estate planning as a financial advisor, but as a Christian, I see missed opportunities to allow God to multiply the resources we have through our incomes for our families’ future generations.  If our paradigm of giving shifts from leaving an inheritance to “living giving,” which means taking advantage of   compound interest while time is on their side, God will have future generations of believers with amazing resources He could tap to further His work.  I was awakened to this vision eight years ago while teaching a course at my church called Financial Peace University, a program written by Dave Ramsey, a Christian financial counselor. 

     Ramsey gives the example of Ben, who invests $2,000 a year from the time he is nineteen years old to the time he is twenty-six, for a total of $16,000.  By age 65 he has earned 12% a year on his investment and has accumulated over $2.2 million!  My favorite line from Ramsey’s course: “What if I’m half wrong?!  Aren’t we happy?!” -By which he means, even if Ben had accumulated half that amount — $1.1 million that would still be an incredible accomplishment. In contrast, another investor, Arthur, contributed $2,000 a year from the time he was 27 until he was 65, or $78,000, but he didn’t make as much money as Ben.  He had $1.5 million at age 65 at the same rate of return. Take a look at the attached illustration at the end of this post, which demonstrates the power of compounding from an early age.

     A great tool to build wealth for kids for long term investing is a Roth IRA.  There are a few rules to follow regarding the Roth, but I want to show you the big picture for now.  The Roth allows you to make contributions that aren’t deductible for your tax return, while the earnings grow tax free.  Roths are available for anyone who earns income.  Does your child babysit?  Pet sit?  Mow lawns?  When a child earns money, contribute their earnings to their Roth as a gift.  By the way allowances for doing chores does not count as earned income per the IRS.  The income has to come from an outside source.  (You can Google Roth for Minors to see examples of what is and is not considered earned income.)  Can you imagine what you can accomplish through “living giving” while your kids and grandkids are young and earning income?

     Some of you might be thinking, “Lee Ann, it is not my job to build my kid’s retirement!”  I agree.  This is where a shift in thinking is critical.  You aren’t building their retirement, but rather a legacy that teaches them to use these dollars for the Lord.  You have to view this “living giving” plan as an opportunity to impart your legacy of values that allows your children to have the freedom to serve Christ with these resources.  You are putting them in a position to have more options to follow God’s leadership as they get older.  You are teaching them that our lives are not about us, but about God.  These resources are not about living on Easy Street, but finding ways to minister to those in need.  By implementing such a plan, you are teaching your kids that these resources are a blessing from God and meant to be used for His purposes.  Thus, your job is to TEACH your child how to manage and use these dollars to further the cause of Christ!  It is very clear in Scripture when God blesses us with wealth, He never intended us to hoard it.  His resources aren’t ours to keep, but His to give.  There are multiple passages warning us to beware of greed.  I am suggesting that you can shape the hearts of kids for giving and sharing God’s resources by teaching them God’s values about money, stewardship, giving to the poor, the oppressed, the underprivileged, the hungry, etc. 

     Here are a few ideas for training your children to handle God’s wealth.  Teach your kids how to budget.  Teach them the importance of writing “thank you” notes to God, which we call the tithe in the church setting.  (A tithe is 10% of the income God provides to us.)  Enroll them in the junior version of Financial Peace University.  Show them all the Scripture passages around the blessings of giving.  Pray for them daily and ask the Lord to transform your child’s heart to be a generous giver just like God.  Model giving while your kids are young.  Help them to make decisions around giving while they are young so they can experience the joy of giving.  Once they experience the joy of giving, they won’t look back.  They will desire to find ways to give.  As the custodian of the Roth IRA, you have the privilege to impart your Christian values as it relates to money and how it is to be used and shared liberally for God’s purposes. 

     This vision is ambitious, and there is the risk that your children won’t own your values for themselves.  What if a child gets to age 65 and sees this abundance and says, “I can just kick back, buy a vacation home, and travel the world” instead of getting involved in ministries and sharing the resources?  If this is your fear, introduce Luke 12:15-21 at an early age! God calls a rich man a “fool” and demands his life because “he stored up things for himself but wasn’t rich toward God.”  This parable can’t be ignored.  God is not pleased with hoarding.  Some kids may squander the dollars or not honor the values that you spent years to teach, but you will have peace knowing that you did everything possible to “train them up in the way they should go” (Prov 22:6).  God will honor you for giving your best to place His dollars into action by leveraging compounding and time in the market.  I would rather risk changing the family tree, rather than living out of fear that they will squander it.  God is bigger than we are, and He will work out His purposes if that situation materializes. 

     I see great opportunities with this “living giving” model.  Our legacy will be our values and how we utilize His generous resources, rather than how much we leave in the end.  Many kids earn income before age 19, which was the beginning age used in this illustration.  Imagine what could happen if we start funding Roths for kids who start earning income from ages 13-18.  Let’s transition to “living giving” so that what is left over at our death becomes secondary to the wealth we give while alive.  You may not be able to fund $2,000 a year, but anything is better than nothing.  God says it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35), and I believe God meant while we are alive.  It’s hard to enjoy the blessing of giving an inheritance six feet under.  Let’s do it!

Ben and Arthur Illustration from FPU

Blessings,

Lee Ann

2.7.11 Giving: What’s Really at Stake

I am faced with a most interesting tension around giving, and I bet I am not alone.  I wholeheartedly believe that when people approach us who are in need and ask us to help, we are to give without judging them (Luke 6:37).  Why?  Because Jesus says “He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36 ).  Jesus teaches that we are to even lend to our enemies without expecting to get anything back.  (Luke 6:35) 

When I look at the Scripture around this principle of giving, I don’t see anywhere in the Scripture that I have a role to assess the real level of need when a person asks for help.  I think of the panhandlers I see daily.  They are asking for help, but they obviously had enough resources available to get them to the corner on which they stand.  Some are likely receiving disability checks, have some form of housing, and can find meals at soup kitchens.  So exactly how much “in need” are they?  I don’t know, and I don’t think it really matters.  I still think that Jesus teaches us to give out of a spirit of kindness and mercy – not out of a spirit of  judgment.   On the other hand, the Bible clearly teaches that we are to be good stewards of His resources.  So how panhandlers are handling what they receive does matter to God.  In fact , we will all give an account some day for how we handled His resources. 

The tension I am facing is that the request is coming from someone I know, and I have watched some of the spending habits of this person, and I am having to fight the urge to judge.  Have you ever been in this position?  Do you think a person who is asking for financial assistance should be accountable for how they spend money if they are going to be receiving help on a regular basis?  Should we be asking a person to “prove” they are short on money before we honor a request?   My head says, “Absolutely”, but my heart says, “No.  The Lord will hold all persons accountable for how they stewarded His dollars, and it is not my place to be the judge.”  

I keep vascillating between being given the privilege to give and being frustrated knowing that I may very well be enabling some poor spending habits or decisions.  And by enabling another and seeing some unnecessary spending, can I guard my heart well enough to prevent possible resentment?  Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”  Whatever I decide to do has to be settled in my heart because I don’t want the joy of my salvation and my walk with Christ to be eroded by a monthly check being given because someone asked for help.  2 Cor 9:7 says that when we give, we should give with a cheerful heart.  Cheer or joy should be the default setting of our heart when we give.  

I am landing on just giving and not judging someone’s perceived need for assistance.  Do I want to see the bank statements and credit card statements? Yep.  Do I want to see the person  demonstrate sacrificing some current expenses that can be eliminated from their current spending patterns? Yep.  Do I want them to be accountable to me on a regular basis? Yep.  Do I want them to demonstrate that they have exhausted their income sources first before asking for help? Yep.  Am I going to press for any of these logical requests? Nope.  Here’s why.  

There is too much at stake before the Lord that has nothing to do with the amount of money being requested.  What’s at stake is my heart.  The Lord can use this situation as an opportunity to mold my heart to be more like His.  It’s the decision to give with a spirit of kindness and mercy, which is more like Him.  It’s a decision to love unconditionally, which is more like Him.  It’s a decision to allow this opportunity to grow my heart toward being a more generous giver, which is more like Him.  It’s a decision to give with joy without expecting anything in return, which is more like Him.  It’s also a decision to trust Jesus at his Word.  Jesus gives me a promise in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  I either believe this to be true or I don’t.  I will tell you that I not only trust Him at His word, but I rest on this promise on a regular basis in the area of giving.  I can tell you that I cannot outgive Him.  When I give, there is only a temporary reduction in the checkbook, but it never fails that the Lord pours blessings into my lap when I least expect it.  It is truly an amazing experience to trust Him and risk with Him in the area of giving.  

The Lord’s message is to not worry about judging another’s financial situation and their stewarding abilities.  The judging role belongs exclusively to the Lord.  We weren’t invited to be on His panel.  But we have been invited to give His resources.  I bet those of you who have already given in situations like this look back without any regrets.  I believe the Lord’s message to us is “I understand the tensions you feel with this, but I will reward it.  Just trust me.”  If we will just trust Him in this matter, then the joy of giving will be there, and our heart will be free from any potential resentment.  I am going to say “yes” because I am to give to anyone who asks and trust the Lord to help my heart to be more like His. 

Blessings,

Lee Ann

11.12.10 Robbing God His Due

How many times as kids did we receive a gift, only to be prompted by our parents’ with, “What do you say?”,  which was our cue to say, “Thank you!”  My parents coaching became more sophisticated when I was a teenager,  especially at Christmas.  We were not allowed to open gifts until a notepad and pen were in insight, and we were prepared to write down who gave us the gifts.  In the days following Christmas I often heard, “Have you written your thank you notes yet?”  I thought I was being badgered, but with 20/20 hindsight, I see my parents were training me on the importance of saying “thank you”. 

As an adult I appreciate this training.  I understand that no gift should be taken for granted, and saying “thank you” supports this basic truth.  From the vantage point of the one giving the gifts, I now understand why my parents pushed me to write “thank you” notes.  Givers desire acknowledgement.  They want to know their gift brought joy and gladness!  The joy of giving is intense for me.  I have no words in my vocabulary to describe that feeling.  But I have discovered a weakness in my flesh.  When I don’t get a thank you, my heart feels  discouragement that robs me of the joy of giving.  How do I get over this discouragement? 

Recently,  I was doing my daily reading in Scripture, which happened to be 2 Cor 9, Paul’s message on the Macedonians’ giving. While reading the following passage, the Spirit showed me the answer to my question: 

6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:
   “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
      his righteousness endures forever.”[a]

10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (Hmmm…it doesn’t say “thanksgiving to Lee Ann”)  12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. (Hmmm…is this a typo?  It doesn’t say “thanks to Lee Ann”) 13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God (It doesn’t say “praise Lee Ann”) for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

This reading brought instant clarity as to why I feel discouragement.  I desire a thank you.  I want people whom God has led me to bless to acknowledge what He’s doing in their life.  I want to hear their joy about these blessings!  I am not opposed to God being thanked, but I at least want some of it to go to me – which is SO WRONG according to the Scripture above.  The fact is my discouragement was unwittingly self-induced by looking for the wrong outcome.  Now that my perspective is correct, I not only lost the feeling of discouragement, but I lost my desire to hear a “thank you”. 

The lesson is obvious:  it is not about me and never will be, and everything that I say and do should only be for His glory and honor.  If my investment of time, energy, and resources given through a variety of ministries causes others to give “overflowing expressions of thanks to God” and leads others to “praise God” because of sharing His gifting and resources with others, then everything has happened according to God’s plan.  Thus, to even desire a “thank you” from anyone is to rob God of the “thank you” He deserves since He is the real Giver. He is the only reason I have anything to give in the first place!  I am just His conduit to be a blessing to others, so the thank you should ALWAYS go to Him.  I’m a slow learner as it has taken me 50 years to figure this out, but I think I am finally getting it.

Blessings,

Lee Ann