My wife Lisa and I learned an important lesson early in our married life about stewardship. We lived in a great community and were members of a great church. The preaching was good, the Bible lessons were good, the people were good, and most importantly, the food was good. Every time we entered the sanctuary for worship we went with anticipation.
After being members of this church for a couple of years, I remember the church entering into a capital campaign. The campaign was for additional building space and the pastor asked everyone to pray about what the Lord would have them give. Well, this was a unique thought to us. Pray and ask the Lord to direct what we give. I had already debated the finer issues of giving in my mind, like should I tithe on the gross or the net, and now the pastor was asking us to pray for direction in what we would give for this campaign.
I did pray. Lisa prayed too. We talked and read Scripture, listening for the Lord’s voice. We were a young couple. We had only been married a couple of years. Most young couples don’t have that much discretionary income. One income (teacher’s salary at that), no kids. Well, the Lord probably doesn’t want us to give much. I already give, why give more?
It wasn’t long after that that the Lord impressed on us an amount that we were to give. Lisa and I prayed about it and wrote it down in our Bibles. Still didn’t know where this amount would come from but we were confident the Lord would show us.
Well, the Lord did show us soon. We felt the Lord impressing us to move to Atlanta for a new career and to sell our home. You know what? We had only been in our little brick ranch home two years but we made more money than we needed when we sold it. Now you know the rest of the story.
I once read that stewardship is what one does after saying “I believe.” I want to be a good steward of what the Lord has entrusted to me. As we learned in our first capital campaign, this means being willing to give back to Him for His goodness toward me. When you encounter your next giving challenge, pray about what the Lord would have you do and anticipate seeing what happens.
For further reading, see Matthew 6:19-21, Philippians 4:10-20
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