A Month of Gratitude, Day 6
December 3, 2008
One of the things we’re hearing more and more often these days from people in our congregation here at North Point are the repercussions of our faltering economy. As consumer spending falls and the stock markets continue to struggle, businesses are being forced to make cutbacks and people are facing serious financial hardships. In many cases these situations are made worse, because people have lived with little to no finaincial margin. In the midst of these circumstances, I am grateful for a perspective on money that I owe to North Point. It’s the sixth thing that I’m grateful for from my time here.
Both of my parents were born into very meager financial situations and both worked hard to provide more for my brother and I than their parents were able to provide for them. They instilled in us the value of hard work and a sense that if we applied ourselves we could provide more for our kids than we had. I learned the value and sense of accomplishment that comes from working hard and earning your way. I am thankful for these values and am trying to instill them in my children as well. However, there was an important perspective that my parents did not impart or that I missed, and that is that regardless what we earn, regardless what we “own,” ultimately everything is God’s.
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
1 Chronicles 29:11
Now I probably understood this at certain cognitive level and agreed with it, but it wasn’t a core belief because it wasn’t reflected in the way I lived. This became an issue I had to confront shortly after I started attending North Point, as the subject of giving came up with friends in my small group. The way I approached the issue of giving was, “How much of my money do I need to give God?” The idea of giving a percentage of my income was a new concept, as I had grown up being a “tip the plate” person. That is, I’d drop a five, a ten, or if I was feeling really generous, a twenty dollar bill into the offering plate from time to time. This all changed for me after hearing Andy’s series ‘Stewards-R-Us.’
In this series Andy taught on the concept of stewardship. He argued persuasively that everything was God’s, and that we were merely managers – stewards – of all the things we generally referred to as our own. Our money. Our cars. Our homes. Everything. It all belonged to God, and as managers, one day we would give an account of how we used what we were given. The whole concept of ownership – which my parents and my culture taught me to value so highly – was an illusion. To drive home this point, Andy did one of the most effective sermon illustrations I’ve ever seen. On the way into the auditorium, we each got a sealed envelope along with our bulletin and were told not to open it. After explaining the concept of stewardship, Andy instructed us to open our envelopes. Inside the envelope was money and a small blue card. Everyone was given different amounts, from $100 down to $5. I got a five dollar bill in my envelope. Andy then explained that this was not our money, it was the church’s money, and he was giving it to us to manage. He instructed us to spend the money the way that we thought the church would want us to, and after we spent it, we were to write how we spent the money on the small blue card we got and put it in the offering bucket the next time we were at church. Suddenly, the whole concept of stewardship clicked for me. From that point on, God has led me progressively toward surrendering all that I possess as his. This perspective has helped me become a more generous and joyful giver, and it is freeing me from worry about how much money I make or have. As a family, we are committed to living by the pattern of – Give. Save. Spend. We give off the top a percentage of our income to the church and to needs we feel called to address, and we seek to increase that percentage over time. From what is left we save for the future, and we spend the rest on our day-to-day needs. It is a simple pattern of life, but in our consumer-driven culture, it definitely isn’t easy.
I now firmly believe (not just mentally, but by my actions) that God is my provider, and my security is in him, not my bank account. God used North Point to teach me that, and I am extremely grateful. When you are moving your family across the country to start a new church in the middle of a global economic crisis and all you have is the assurance that God has called you to the task, that perspective makes an enormous difference.
P.S.
I forgot to mention when I first wrote this post that I actually still have the envelope I 
got that morning with a five dollar bill in it. I keep it stuck in my Bible as a regular reminder of the lesson of stewardship I learned years ago.
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This is awesome, Stephen. Thanks for the reminder that our security is in our Heavenly Father and not our talents or resources here on earth.
Stephen, It’s cool to read these posts. Since we started attending NPCC at around the same time, it’s felt in so many ways like a trip down memory lane. I could echo many of the things God has taught you as he’s taught me the same lessons through NPCC’s environments! -Steve
[...] I took, but there were a couple things that really struck me. I’ve already blogged about my perspective on finances, so this wasn’t new information. But this was another great example that most of us [...]