How Should We View Giving?
I often use the FedEx delivery man to illustrate how we should view giving and show the difference between holding on to what belongs to God and delivering it where it needs to go. Suppose the delivery man shows up at my door and I find out he has been keeping every package that I had been giving him for the last year instead of delivering them where they needed to go.
Oh boy, we've got a real problem now.
So the next time he comes, I say, "Hey, we have to talk. What's been happening to all these packages that I've been giving to you?" He says, "Oh, I take all of those packages home and keep them." I respond, "Why on earth would you do that?" And then he looks at me and says, "Well, if you didn't want me to keep them, you shouldn't have given them to me in the first place." That's when I would have to clarify, "I wasn't giving it to you, I was entrusting it to you to get it where I want it to go."
This story seems ridiculous, but what makes us think that just because God gives us so much, we're supposed to keep all of it? He certainly intends for us to keep some of it for ourselves and our families, but He also intends for a significant amount to be given away to His kingdom. What He provides us with should help advance the gospel, help those in need, and help support our church and community. We should view ourselves as a courier. It should be our goal to get what He gives us into the hands of whoever it's intended to be.
Sometimes we don't understand what it means to be a steward. Stewardship begins with the first fruits. The way you learn to be a good steward is first and foremost by giving. That is where we start. Our first responsibility is to give it back to Him, invest, and store up treasures in heaven, not on earth. Once we get that, the other parts of stewardship begin to fall into place.
