Jesus Preaches on Giving

How many of you, just raise your hand if you've heard of Abigail Van Buren. Just raise your hand real high. So I'm sure that those of you who have heard of her have read her advice column Dear Abby, right? Now, the younger crowd probably doesn't read much about Dear Abby. I mean, if you don't read a newspaper, then you probably don't read anything about Dear Abby. Pauline Phillips is her real name. Abigail Van Buren was her pen name. In 1956, she began her advice column, trying to give practical advice to husbands, wives, children, parents on how to live their lives.

Since she has died, her daughter has now picked up the pen and has followed in her mother's footsteps. Years ago, when I used to read the newspaper, because I actually received a newspaper at my house, I read an article that was written in Dear Abby. And this is how it goes. Dear Abby, in a recent column, a reader complained about the amount of money he was expected to give to the church. Perhaps this piece will provide an answer to that question. I regret I don't know who the author is, but I hope you'll find it worth sharing.

Bob Whitmore, Eugene, Oregon. Dear Bob, I do. And many thanks for sending it. Here's the article. Is the church costing too much? Last Sunday, and you'll know as I read this, this was written many years ago. Last Sunday, another golfer sank the last putt on the 18th green and received a check for $50,000 for four rounds of golf, plus an automobile for himself and one for his wife. This week, the papers reported that a certain popular singer will receive $100,000 per week for her current engagement.

Americans spend annually more on dog food than on church contributions. It is not unusual for an individual to pay more for his country club membership than he gives to the church. So the question is, is the church costing too much? Let me share an experience with you.

On June 2, 1940, a little girl was born to us. She cost us money from the moment she was born. As she grew from babyhood to girlhood, she cost even more. Her dresses and shoes were more expensive. And we had to have the doctor through all those childhood diseases. She was even more expensive during her high school and teen years. She needed long dresses to go to parties. When she went to college, we discovered along with other parents that all college expenses are not listed in the catalog. Then after graduation, she fell in love and married.

She was married in a church wedding. And that too cost a lot of money. Then five months after her marriage, she suddenly sickened. And within a week, she was dead. She hasn't cost us a penny since the day we walked away from her grave. As long as a church is alive, she will cost money. And the more alive a church is, the more money she will cost. Only a dead church, like a dead child, is no longer expensive. Think it over. Is the church costing too much? What would you say? The church that Christ died for, shed his blood for, the church that has a great responsibility for the eternal souls of people as it proclaims the gospel of Christ, is it costing too much?

You might answer it like that church down south many years ago when the preacher was moving toward the end of a sermon. And with growing crescendo, he said, this church, like the crippled man, has got to get up and walk. And the congregation responded, that's right, preacher, let the church walk. And he added, this church, like Elijah on Mount Carmel, has got to run. Oh, the congregation said, run, preacher, let it run. Let the church run. This church has got to mount up on wings like eagles and fly.

Oh, preacher, let it fly. Let the church fly, said the congregation. Then he added, now if this church is going to fly, it's going to take money. And the church responded, well then let the church walk, preacher, let it walk. You see, we want the church to do many things until it seems to cost us some money. Then we're not so sure. It's like the man who was talking to his pastor after church. He said to him, pastor, I'm so glad you said today in your sermon, you weren't so sure where the money was going to come from to keep the church operational.

Because I was afraid you were going to ask us for the money. You see, a lot of people are like that. They don't have a grip on giving at all. They have no idea about what the Bible says concerning giving.

And yet, do you know that because giving is a part of the revelation of God, and we are to preach the whole counsel of God, Acts 20, then giving becomes a part of the revelation of God that He wants us to understand for His glory and for His honor. And so we need to understand what the Bible says concerning giving.

What does God say about those in His church who are to give? The Lord spent 11 of His 39 parables talking about money. The parable is all about understanding wisdom and getting the wisdom that God wants you to have. On top of that, our Lord said more about money than any other one thing He ever preached on. He would not be able to make it in today's church. They would say all He talks about is money. But Jesus had more to say about money than heaven or hell in any other one topic He ever addressed.

How would He be if He was your preacher in your church? Would you want to listen to what He has to say concerning money and giving? That's why we began last week looking at what it means to be a faithful steward. Because we are stewards of eternal reconciliation, the gospel, right? We are stewards of personal relationships, God's people. We are stewards of spiritual resources, God's gifts. And we are stewards of temporal riches, God's gold. The question is, are you a faithful steward? Are you a trustworthy steward?

Are you a dependable household manager? Are you one able to manage the affairs of God in such a way that He is pleased, that He is honored, that He is glorified? Only you can answer that question, you and God alone. And so we have tried to take you to a place where you can learn to get a grip on what the Bible says concerning your giving patterns.

What does the Bible say? And how do we understand what the Bible says in light of who we are? The more we give sacrificially, the more we give of our selfishness away. And that's important. So what does the Bible say concerning giving? I like what one author says. He says, giving is not God's way of raising money. God's not a fundraiser. So giving is not God's way of raising money. Giving is God's way of raising children. It's how God raises children. And so we need to look at what the Bible says concerning giving.

And we gave you two verses last week that sort of set the tone for our time together. And that was Luke 6, 38, Luke's record of the Sermon on the Mount, where the Lord said, give and it should be given unto you, pressed down, shaken, running over. To understand that verse, you must understand what Jesus said in Acts 20, 35, it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. Now you will note that in the Bible, there are only two directives for giving. One is to the church and the other is to the needy.

That's it. No other directives are given. One to the church, one to the needy. The church is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse number two, which says, upon the first day of the week, that every one of you lay up or lay by him in store as God has prospered him.

Upon the first day of the week. There is to be a system centered around your giving. It's not an every once in a while kind of thing. A here and then and here and now kind of thing. It's not a once a year kind of thing. It's not periodically here, periodically there. It's, it's a system upon the first day of the week, lay aside that which is to be proportioned out to the church.

Now, maybe they were paid once a week. Maybe they paid once a month. I don't know, but there should be some kind of system in your giving patterns based on 1 Corinthians 16, verse number two.

And the other verse for the needy is 1 John chapter three, verse number 17. You know this verse well, 1 John 3 17. But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth. So there is a giving to those who are in need and there is a giving to the church. Those are the two directives that the scriptures give when it comes to giving. Now, in light of that, most people miss a very important principle when it comes to giving.

And that is God has designed a cycle in the giving process. I don't know if you know this or not, but if you don't, you need to understand this biblical principle. God has established a cycle that once you're a part of the cycle, you're a part of the blessing. Once you remove yourself from the cycle, you remove yourself from the blessing. Let me introduce it to you by saying to you what Paul says in Philippians chapter 4, verse number 15, when he says these words, or verse 14, Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction.

You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, but you alone, you guys are the only ones who did.

For even in Thessalonica, you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. Did you get that? I'm not looking to receive more from you. I'm looking to receive what you will receive in your account because you continue to give. In other words, if you live to give, you'll always receive. If you don't live to give, you'll never receive. But if you live to give, you will receive. So he goes on to say these words, But I received everything in full and have an abundance.

I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God, and my God will supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. In other words, because you have offered this sweet aroma to God, because of your sacrifice, my God will take care of every need that you can possibly have. Turn in your Bible to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 11. Let me help you understand this cycle from a very practical point of view.

Okay? Jesus said give. It's a command. And it should be given unto you. You give, you'll receive. How will you receive? Pressed down, shaken, and running over. Your standard of measure will be measured back to you. Luke 6 verse number 38. God says in Proverbs 11 verse number 25, The generous man will be prosperous.

The generous man will be prosperous. Not the stingy man. The generous man will be prosperous. And he who waters will himself be watered. Now listen, you don't give to get. But whenever you give, you get. If you give to get, you give for the wrong motive. But if you give for the glory of God, you'll always get. Based on Proverbs 11 verse number 25. The generous man prospers. He who waters will himself be watered. And then he gives an agricultural illustration. He says, He withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.

Okay? The whole cycle of living and giving depends on you being a faithful steward of what God's given to you. So, if you grow grain, you can sell grain. If you sell grain, you can buy more grain. If you buy more grain, you'll plant grain. Then you'll grow more. Then you'll sell more. Then you'll buy more. It's a cycle. The cycle is illustrated again in verse number 24. There is one who scatters and yet increases all the more. And there is one who withholds what is justly due and yet it results only in want.

Isn't that neat? That is so good. There is one who scatters and increases all the more. But the one who withholds what is justly due results only in want. Have you ever met anybody who says, I just never have enough? I gotta have more. I need more. In fact, they say like this, you know what? When my ship comes in, because I don't have enough money. But when my ship comes in, boy, the Lord's really gonna receive from me. The Lord's really gonna hear from me. The problem with that is, when your ship comes in, you're gonna go standing on your ship.

God's not gonna give you anything. How do I know that? The Bible tells me that. Luke 16 says this, verse 10. He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much. And he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. Wow. In other words, he who is faithful in the little things will be faithful in bigger things. And then he changes the words from faithfulness to unrighteousness. Because if you're unfaithful, you're unrighteous. If you're faithful, you're righteous.

So if you're unrighteous, he says, in little things, you'll be unrighteous in much also. So when your ship comes in, guess what? You're not gonna give any of that to the Lord. You're gonna keep it all for yourself. He goes on to say these words. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the use of an unrighteous wealth, who will entrust true riches to you? If you haven't been faithful in material possessions, you're never going to be entrusted with spiritual resources, souls of people, unique and special ministries.

Why would God entrust to you the eternal souls of people when you can't handle the material aspects of your life? Because you see, how you handle your money determines everything we need to know about you. I can know a lot about your own personal life if I just understand how you are disciplined or not disciplined with your money. How you spend your money, what you spend your money on, where your money goes, I can tell you all I need to know about your life. Because where your treasure is, there's where your heart is also.

Right? Your checkbook speaks volumes to where you are spiritually with the Lord. Now I know that some people get irritated when you talk about money, but those are always the people who don't give. Did you ever notice that?

People who give are never irritated when you talk about giving. Only the people who don't give are the ones who get irritated when you talk about giving. Just mark that down. Could you leave today and say, well, that pastor's talking about giving again. Say, I think that guy's not giving. Because you're not. Because if you're a giver, oh, you love to hear about giving. Because you love to give. That's just who you are. That's what you do. So the Lord says, if you're faithful in little, I can trust you with more.

But if you're unrighteous in little, you'll be unrighteous in more. You're not getting any more. People always say, I never have enough. But if I had more, I'd give. No, you wouldn't. No, you wouldn't. Because you're not faithful in the little things that you have. If you're faithful in the little things, God will always give you more things. On top of that, He will give you spiritual riches. True riches. Riches that go beyond anything you could ever imagine in the human realm. But what happens is that we miss the cycle of blessing.

As Proverbs tells us, the generous man will be prosperous. And he who waters will himself be watered. He who scatters will increase all the more. Yet he withholds what is justly due, because he has the power to do that, lives in constant want. Constant poverty. We need to take what the Scriptures say and translate it into our everyday living and ask yourself, where are you financially? Are you always struggling from week to week, from month to month? The generous man will always prosper. This is not a prosperity gospel message.

I'm not saying if you give to the church, you're going to get millions of dollars, that kind of stuff. That's not the point. But the cycle of blessing that God gives, as outlined in the book of Proverbs, outlined in the book of Philippians, and also outlined in the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 16, verse 10. There it is. The cycle of blessing. God blesses you. So what do you do? You give out of the blessing He gives you. When you give out of the blessing He gives you, He blesses you again. And then you give out of the blessing He gives you.

That's the cycle of blessing. When you stop giving, you remove yourself from the cycle, and the blessing stops when it comes to your particular needs. But when you put yourself back in that cycle, what happens then is that it's that continual cycle that God Himself has developed for His people. They will understand the blessings of giving. You see, we forget that God truly, truly wants to bless your life. And the reason your life is not blessed up the wazoo is because of you. Not God. It's you. You're holding things back.

You're holding things up because you're faithful. You're not faithful in a little. But if you were, God would entrust more to you. He would entrust true riches to you, spiritual riches, spiritual resources to you, because He would realize you can be trusted. Now, He knows whether or not you can be trusted or not, right? He knows it already. But the biggest test is how you deal with the blessings He has given to you, particularly in the money He brings your direction. So what does Jesus say about giving?

That's the topic for today, and there are many passages we can look at. I'm going to take you just to one and give you five principles about what Jesus says concerning giving.

If you've got your Bible, turn with me to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6, Sermon on the Mount. Matthew records this one, okay? First recorded sermon of Jesus in Scripture.

He's on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, preaching to hundreds of thousands of people, hanging on every word that He says. For never a man spoke like this man would speak, in Matthew chapter 7 it says. He spoke as one having supreme authority. He just gets done with saying, hey, you have heard that it was said by the ancients of old, but I say to you this. This is what you've been taught, but I want to tell you what the Word of God actually does say. And then He talks about their giving patterns.

He talks about their praying patterns, their fasting patterns. He talks about their religiosity, because the whole key to the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 520. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. They have an outward show of religiosity. What I need to have from you is a true inner righteousness that can only come because of what Jesus Christ Himself has done on Calvary's cross. And so He speaks to them. He addresses the issue given in Matthew 6 verses 1 to 4.

This is what He says. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men, to be noticed by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound the trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

The cycle of blessing. God rewards those who give His way. So how are we to give? And I will give you principles this week and next week and the week after to help you understand what the Bible says concerning giving.

Why do we do that? In the church today, we suffer from DDD. Have you heard of ADD? Attention Deficit Disorder? I know some of you have that. You're falling asleep already. I get that. Okay. But it's called in the church DDD. That's called Doctrinal Deficit Disorder. The less doctrine you know, the more disorders you will have. Did you know that? Aren't you glad you came today? Now you know that. You have more disorders because you don't know what the Bible says concerning who God is and what God wants.

And part of giving is a part of doctrine that helps us understand God, His plan for His people and His church. So we don't want you to suffer from Doctrinal Deficit Disorder in the area of giving. So we address the issue for you so you understand it. After all, we're embarking on the season of giving, right? The great Christmas season which embodies the ultimate gift, the unspeakable gift, the indescribable gift, the unimaginable gift, because it is totally a sacrifice. And that's the unimaginable gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

But do we understand giving? So Jesus addresses it and says, if you're going to give, number one, give sincerely, not hypocritically.

Beware. Take heed. Stand in attention. Be careful about what it is you're looking at, what it is you are doing. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men so that you are noticed by men. Theahomai, where we get a word theater, where they stand in front of people to act out a certain person. It's not real. It's just an act. Beware of doing what you do before men so that somehow you'll be noticed by them. Now this could apply to everything because anytime you do something to be noticed by men, it's hypocritical, right?

Every time you do something, every time you say something, every time you engage in some activity so that you are noticed by others, that's your motive, you want to be noticed, you want to be seen, it's hypocritical. It doesn't define the true person that you are. You're presenting something on the outside that's more than likely not true on the inside. And so Jesus says, beware, because that's what the hypocrites did.

And Christ's most harsh comments were against the religious leaders of his day because they were such hypocrites. And he didn't want those who followed him to fall in line with that hypocritical kind of attitude. Practicing your righteousness before men so that they'll notice you.

You'll want to be seen by them. Because what they do is that they will sound the trumpet. When they give, they want everybody to know they're giving. They want to know who they're giving it to. So everybody can pat him on the back and say, well, that was such a generous act on your part. I know, I know. You know, praise be to the Lord. You know, we say that kind of stuff. And yet, there's your reward. That's it. You've been noticed by men. When you give, Christ says, give sincerely.

Give it out of a heart that truly wants to honor the Lord. Give spontaneously. Give freely. Give in a way that there's no calculation of your giving. Give spontaneously. This is contrasted with the Pharisees who give in a very calculating kind of way. And you see, listen.

Everybody look here for a second. The reason you give spontaneously, because it's part of the nature of the believer. Remember Matthew 25? The sheep go to judgment. And Christ puts his sheep on his right. That's all you folk over here. The goats on his left. That's all you folk over here. Okay? Don't take it personally. Just illustration-wise. And he says to the goats, when I was hungry, you didn't feed me. Thirsty? Gave me nothing to drink. Prison? Didn't visit me. Naked? You didn't clothe me. When do we see you naked or in prison or thirsty or hungry?

When do we see that? See, it wasn't part of their nature. But the sheep, they also say. But when do we see you thirsty or hungry or naked or in prison? Christ says, when you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.

You see, it was their nature to do it. That's the nature of the believer. They want to give of themselves. They want to give to those in need. That's part of who we are. See? It's a spontaneous kind of giving. So much so that I don't even know I'm doing it for the Lord because it's such a part of my nature. That's what I want to do. Give spontaneously, Christ says.

When you give and you expect some form of gratitude, that's hypocritical giving. When you give and you expect a thank you note, that's hypocritical giving. That's giving to be noticed. That's giving to be seen. That's giving to receive recognition. We give spontaneously because it's our nature to give. Whether you respond or not is irrelevant. I just want you to have what God's given to me, so here you go. And I might not even give it to you under my name, somebody else's name, or no name. It's irrelevant that you know who gave it to you as long as your needs are met.

That's all that matters. But we are so into affirmation and recognition, we want someone to say, Thank you. You're welcome. Really? Are we that narcissistic that we have to have a thank you note? That we have to have a note of gratitude? But we are, aren't we? That's just the way we are. Give spontaneously. So spontaneously that you give, listen, secretly. That's principle number two.

He says, when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. So your giving will be in secret. How does my left hand not know what my right hand is doing? Because if I reach into my pocketbook or my billfold with my left hand, somehow my right hand's got to go that direction too to move over there. How does my left and right hand not know what the other's doing? How does that happen? How do I give secretly? Here's the point. When you give, you give so that no part of you ever remembers what you did.

Because it's irrelevant. You give so that God will remember and God will reward. You see, we like to remember what we gave, because if we remember what we gave, we can kind of justify not giving to the next person. You ever notice that?

We want to give to this situation over here, this missions trip over here, because if I can remember what I gave there, it will justify me not giving to the next missions trip that comes up. So we want to remember it. We don't want to give secretly. The principle is simply, if you forget it, God will remember it, and God will reward it. But if you remember it, God will forget it, because there will be no record of it. In fact, over in Hebrews chapter 6, the Bible says these words, God doesn't forget.

God knows. Is it not enough that God knows? Why doesn't anybody else have to know? And pray tell, why do you have to remember it? In order to justify what it is we have done. Give spontaneously. Give secretly. Give specifically. He says these words in Matthew chapter 6, Your secret will reward you. You give specifically for one purpose, and one purpose only, for your Father in heaven. Remember, it is His money. It is Him you're giving to. When the offering basket goes by on Sunday morning, you're not giving to the church.

Primarily, you're giving to the Lord. Primarily. You're giving this to the Lord. It's His money anyway. When God sees the right heart, He always rewards the right heart. That's just what He does. That's just what He does. That's how He works. And we forget that God is in the business of wanting to bless His people. All throughout the Old Testament, He just said to Israel, if you would just do what I say, you will have so much. But they didn't. Because they had a better way. They had a better plan.

So God doesn't change His method of operations. Look, if you give, it will be given unto you. It will be pressed down. It will be shaken down. It will be overflowing. But you've got to give. And if you do, watch the blessing happen. Get involved in the cycle of the blessing. Once you get involved of the growing of the seed, because you've already bought the seed with the blessing that God's given to you, then sell the seed. You can buy more seed. Grow more seed. Sell more seed. Buy more seed. The generous man will be prosperous.

He who waters will be watered all the more. He who scatters will reap the benefits of what he has scattered. But if you withhold that which is justly due, you're going to live in want. Never enough. Never enough. So when you give spontaneously, when you give secretly, when you give specifically, when you give sincerely, you're honoring God. Because you'll always give sacrificially in that realm. That's why I love 2 Corinthians 8 verse number 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich for your sakes, he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

Have you ever noticed that we want to be like Jesus, but not that much? You ever notice that? If you said to everybody in church today, how many here today want to be like Jesus? Oh, I want to be like Jesus. Really? Because he gave it all away. Oh, I don't want to be that much like Jesus. I want to be a little bit like Jesus, but not that much like Jesus, because he sacrificed everything for the church. See? That's how he lived his life. Took on the form of a bond servant. Became obedient even unto death, because he was willing to give sacrificially for the bride.

How about you? Are you in the cycle of blessing? Because see, once you're in it, it's unending. It's amazing. It's incredible to watch. And some of you will go home today. I know my time is gone, but hold on a second.

Some of you will go home today and say, okay, I'm going to give. I'm going to write a check to the church today. I don't have much money. I'm going to write a check to the church. I'm going to write a check to the mission strip. I'm going to do this. I'm going to write a check for the radio program. I'm going to do that. And then I'm going to watch and see what God does. That's the wrong reason. See, you don't give to get, but when you give, you always get. Because that's the cycle that God has designed.

If you're willing to be like the farmer who plants a seed and then lets it grow, you can't sit out there every day and just watch it grow like this. It's going to take a long time. It's going to grow, but watching it ain't going to make it grow any quicker, right? But if you're patient, because God is going to test you, how serious are you? You give sincerely. You give seriously, spontaneously. You give out of a sincere heart and watch and see what God does. Here's your challenge, okay? Here's your challenge.

It's November of 2017. I'm going to challenge you today. To get involved in the cycle of blessing. I'm going to challenge you to give generously to the Lord from November 2017 until November 2018. I guess it's not November yet, is it? So you can wait till November. You can wait till next week if you want to, okay? And watch and see what God does. Take a note. Have a notebook, okay? Keep it right next to your checkbook or if you do everything on your computer, keep that notebook right next to your computer.

And you begin on November the 1st, 2017, giving generously. I don't know what that means for you. I have no idea. I don't know how much money you make. I don't know how much money you have. I don't know. It's not important that I know. God knows though, right? And you begin to give generously. Ask the Lord, Lord, show me what generous looks like because I want to give generously. Okay, here's a hint, all right? It's more than you're giving now, okay? That's just a hint. And I have no idea what you're giving now, but it's more than you're giving now.

So you give generously because if you're already giving generously, guess what? You can always be more generous. If you're giving with a stingy heart, you need to be generous. So from November 1st, 2017 to November 1st, 2018, you keep track about how faithful you are in a little and see how God entrusts you with much and see the spiritual resources that come your way and just keep a record of them for 12 months. And by this time next year, you will be astonished on how God has provided for you in such a unique and special way.

I could give you illustration after illustration of people in this church who have done just that and they were overwhelmed by what God did in return. They didn't do it to get more from God. They just did it to be obedient to God. God always blesses obedience, right? They just did it to be obedient to God and they were unable to contain their joy based on how God supplied in such incredible ways in their lives. Why? God in his word has designed a cycle of blessing that says this, the generous man, he will prosper.

Why? Because when you give, it will be given back to you. How? Press down, shaken, overflowing because that's what God does. Will you test him? Put him to the test because God wants to bless your life. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you for today and the joy you've given to us, the opportunity we have to be in your word. Our prayer, Lord, is that every one of us would understand what you have to say about giving. There's so much in scripture about it. It's just amazing to me the things that you have said in the word of the Lord. It speaks volumes to us and yet we know very little about giving patterns. We know very little about what it means to give. It's not that we don't want to know. Yeah, it is. That's it, Lord.

We just don't want to know because once we know, we're accountable. Forgive us, Lord, for that. Help us to be the kind of people you want us to be. And I pray, Father, that you would challenge every one of us today, myself included, that we would sit back and look at our lives and say, You know what, Lord?

You have blessed us. You've given us so very, very much. What is it that I can do to give back to you to show that I am a faithful steward of the little you've given to me, that I might be faithful in the much you will soon give to me? We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.