So That None Are Needy

As I looked through our pantry, I knew we had too much. I boxed up some extra food and took it to church. After Sunday School, I offered it to Mark and Barb.

“Thank you!” Barb exclaimed. “We can really use this!”

I already knew Mark was working extra hours because their housing costs skyrocketed this past year. They were counting pennies to meet their expenses and the gift of food was a blessing to them.

God encourages us to excel in giving and to do it out of love (See 2 Corinthians 8: 7 – 15) We also see in verses 12 to 15 that at times my surplus makes up for the lack my fellow Christians are suffering. At other times the roles are reversed. God desires to meet needs through the Body so that none are needy.

The Eternal Value of Seven Dollars

The early morning air was still cool, just right for a walk… before the scorching Florida sun would discourage me from venturing out later. No one else was out when I spotted three folded green bills lying near the sidewalk.

Picking up a soggy seven dollars, I wondered if someone had lost them the night before. I noticed I was exactly halfway between two houses. Did one of these people lose the money or was it someone last night or that morning out for a jog or a walk? It was too early to knock on their doors, so I wrote a letter to both houses asking if they were missing any money.

Five days later, I went to our bank’s ATM. I was thinking about the seven dollars and decided God must mean for me to give it to a Faith Promise at church. Right at that moment, I found five dollars lying on the ground there, too! The tellers inside the bank told me to keep the money. I thought this must be additional money for our Faith Promise, not knowing God was about to show me the eternal value of this money I was finding.

Just ten minutes later, I just stepped in the house when the phone rang from the person missing the seven dollars. I drove straight over to her house. Rosanna was waiting for me outside. Her Roman nose and straight black hair said “Peruvian” long before she told me were she was from originally. She was amazed that I would make a point of getting the money back to her, which of course, allowed me to share about the Lord. We talked further and she told me about her problems with her adult children.

I learned she was moving in three days, so it became obvious to me I needed to share the Gospel with her right then. She invited me into her house where I went through “Would You Like to Know God Personally.” As I started to explain about sin and our separation from God, Rosanna began crying quietly. She was very eager to have Christ in her heart, so she prayed silently to herself to ask Him in.

The next day, I checked around with friends and then gave Rosanna’s phone number to a woman who lives near Rosanna’s new apartment. Susanna sounded like a “perfect match” so I prayed that Rosanna would grow in her new faith and would be willing to go to church with Susanna.

I am so glad I did not view the seven dollars as a windfall or even as something to give to the church. I always make an effort to return lost money to its owner. Of course, it was an even greater thrill to see God use this little event to make an eternal difference and bring a lost soul to Himself.

Circumstances vs. Scriptures

“I stopped tithing and then I learned that I needed an expensive prescription,” Janis explained. “The amount I would have given was exactly enough to cover the prescription!”

“Wow!” I thought, as red flags popped up in my mind. “God promises to supply our needs. (Philippians 4:19) God also encourages us to give, not to stop giving! (Malachi 3: 6 – 11)”

Janis was excited at the “coincidence” that seemed to confirm her decision.

I was concerned that her circumstances did not line up with Scripture and that she was deceived.

I had an opportunity later to write Janis:

“I believe you should be giving financially as an expression of your praise and trust in God in the midst of need. This is a Biblical concept and also fits your role as an encourager who gives praise to God in the midst of need. You were amazed that you had the money for your expensive prescription. I can imagine a different scenario where you had continued to give and God supplied what you needed for the prescription or that you would have not needed the prescription at all. I cannot guess here what He would have done. I just know that God supplies our needs.”

If you find yourself in a similar situation, take a good hard look at your circumstances, study the Scriptures and ask for God’s wisdom. It’s especially important to gather advice from those who know the Word or have studied Biblical financial concepts. A good online resource is Crown Financial Ministries.

A Tale of Two Boxes

It was a big box, but it was half full of beans. Canned beans. Baked beans. Bags of beans. The trouble was, I hardly ever use beans when I cook.

Because we are missionaries, we were given a box of food. The gift was well-meant, but we would barely use it.

At another time, I received another unexpected gift. Some ladies I did not know, but were from a church that invests in us, got together and had a shower for me. It wasn’t a bridal shower or a baby shower, but just a “love on our missionary” shower. After their party in my honor, they mailed all their gifts to me.

The first box gave a strong impression of cast-offs. The second box was thoughtful and intentional; with a pretty tee shirt and lotions and stationery.

Both boxes changed my way of giving to others. For food banks, I make sure I donate a variety of foods of what I like to eat. For other donations, I make sure my gifts are new or like new.

What Price For Salvation?

Rhonda gave me several bags of groceries. I knew a lot of the produce would spoil, so I offered most of the groceries to my neighbor across the street.

“I’ll make soup!” Cathy beamed as she examined the large bag. “My boys will love snacking on the carrots, too.”

A few weeks later, as I was spring cleaning, I brought her a box overflowing with toys that my boys had enjoyed when they were younger. Cathy’s boys, on tiptoe, tried to peer into the box as I handed it over to her.

Then in February, a friend and I sat around Cathy’s dining room table to take a worldview survey with her. Suddenly tears filled Cathy’s eyes.

“Last night was very hard,” she explained.

We listened and we prayed and we hugged her. Then, we shared how she could know God personally. Cathy prayed to receive Christ with us! Her tear-stained face was radiant when we left her.

The groceries would have spoiled in my fridge. The toys might have put a few dollars in my wallet in a yard sale or rusted in the garage. How much better to use what Jesus gives to me as a tool to unlock a heart for God!

Freedom

I felt lighter… and not just because I had just tossed a boxful of unread magazines into the dumpster!

For a long time I felt obligated that I must read those magazines. I finally realized it was not going to happen and decided to just toss them out! I definitely had a sense of freedom now that I did not have to find the time in my life or the space in my home for those magazines.

Since then, I have donated old educational magazines to schools, which were very glad to get them. (Nursing homes or other places may be interested in your stack of magazines, too). It was a little more trouble than the walk to the alley, but definitely rewarding to hear the librarians’ expressions of gratitude for our old National Geographics and for our kids’ old Ranger Rick magazines.

One Gift, Many Blessings

I paused on my way to the mailbox to chat with my neighbor, Cathy. She, and three family members, were clearing out their garage.

“Would you be interested in a table?” she asked, pointing to a squat, red-and-white plastic table.

“I know a few families with young kids,” I suggested as I examined a minor crack in the Legos table top. “My boys loved Legos when they were little. You wouldn’t throw this out would you?”

“Oh yes, I would,” Cathy smiled.

I hesitated. I had a very busy three weeks ahead of me.

“Well, help me bring it over to my house. I’ll see what I can do,” I offered.

I cleaned up the table and sent two e-mails.

One friend, Helen, wrote, “I’ll ask the Wagners if they would like the table.” Their son, Matthew, a young boy with ADHD, recently showed an interest in Legos.

We don’t live near these families, but we “happened” to be in their area about 24 hours later. I dropped the table off and another friend, Martha, took it to the family’s house. As it turns out, the next day was Matthew’s birthday. Another family knew about the table and bought a Lego set to take to the party.

What may have looked like a hassle turned into a blessing! Instead of one family enjoying a toy and then throwing it out, more than six people were blessed! God promises we reap more than we sow!

Cathy is blessed for giving the table to another family. Helen, Martha, and I are blessed for getting the table over to the new family. Little Gabe and his family are blessed for buying a Lego set for Matthew to use on his new table. Matthew and his family are obviously blessed with the table and with Matthew’s new interest in Legos.

Bread or Seed?

A favorite passage of mine is 2 Corinthians 9: 6 – 15. By faith, the sower casts the seed away from him; seed that could make bread for his family today. He trusts God to provide the bread he needs and to multiply what he sows.

Notice in verse 10 that God multiplies the seed, not the bread. Bread represents the needs that God promises to supply; seed is for God to use to bless others and for the Harvest.

We are to sow generously and cheerfully, not reluctantly nor under compulsion, and also that blessing may come to someone. Our cheerful giving (verses 7 – 8 ) results in our having enough for ourselves AND abundance for donations. If we give by faith, He will multiply what we give (verse 9 – 11). Giving results in praise to God and prayers for the saints (verses 11 – 14). For instance, if I am passing God’s blessings along by investing in a ministry, I will want to be praying for that ministry and praising God for what He does through them.

Do we keep God’s blessings for ourselves, living beyond our needs instead of blessing others? Could those extra things that came my way, really be meant for someone else?

My desire is for God to open my eyes to see the seed (material goods and money) that should be blessing someone and to release my grip when I am holding on to something instead of trusting Him to meet my need. I need His grace to joyfully cast those things away from me, as a sower of His blessings in others’ lives.

“You 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. This 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.” ~ 2 Corinthians 9:11 – 12

Two for One

When the weekly ad for our favorite supermarket comes, I scan it for the red letters, Buy One, Get One Free.

Obviously, when we were feeding three teenagers, this was a great way to stretch a food budget for a family of five.

Now, with just three of us, most of those bargains are not worth it, as the food would spoil before we could eat it.

So, why do I still look for those big red letters every week? For the needy. Since we can afford regular prices, one item is for us and the free item goes to a food bank Sometimes both or all of the items go to the food bank.

John the Baptist said it best: “The man with TWO tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” (emphasis mine – Luke 3:11 NIV)

An Eternal Investment

A young man waited at our door with a container of items at his feet. We have made it a policy not to support things we don’t know about, so I said “no” and then gave him a tract.

I really wasn’t surprised later that day to see the tract tossed aside on my neighbor’s sidewalk. I did not “invest” in this young salesman to “gain a hearing” for the Gospel. Just spending time talking to him would have shown I really was interested in him. Would spending a few minutes or a few dollars have brought an eternal return?

Fast forward several years to last month when I was given a bag of more groceries than I could use. I knew what to do and gave most of them to my neighbor across the street.

“I’ll make soup!” Cathy beamed as she examined the large bag. “My boys will love snacking on the carrots, too.”

A few weeks later, as I was spring cleaning, I brought her a box overflowing with toys that my boys had enjoyed when they were younger. Cathy’s boys, on tiptoe, tried to peer into the box as I handed it over to her.

Last week, a friend and I sat around Cathy’s dining room table to take a worldview survey with her. Suddenly tears filled Cathy’s eyes.

“Last night was very hard,” she explained.

We listened and we prayed and we hugged her. Then, we shared how she could know God personally. Cathy prayed to receive Christ with us! Her tear-stained face was radiant when we left her.

The groceries would have spoiled in my fridge. The toys would have put a few dollars in my wallet or rusted in the garage. How much better to use what Jesus gives to me as a tool to unlock a heart for God!

SIDE NOTE: Many years ago I gave up on the small return of yard sales and switched to the eternal investment of blessing someone. I could write volumes on what I’ve learned about giving things away.