Following Jesus with Our Money

Giving is one of those hot button issues for a lot of Christ followers. To be sure, the church, especially the “Televangelists” of the last half century or so have done little to calm people’s fears that the church is “only after your money.” Hopefully, as we seek to follow Jesus we come to understand a far more Biblical approach to money and giving. An approach that is less about getting more into the offering plate and getting more of our whole selves as an offering. Discipleship involves all of our lives. How we handle money, including giving is not immune from the call of Jesus to follow Him. What is difficult is to understand what is important as a disciple and what is a very selfish game played so well by the slick prosperity preacher. There is a balance here. Giving doesn’t equal followership. Disciples are givers but non-disciples can also give, some of them in very generous amounts or ways. One helpful aid I have found in searching to follow Jesus better in this area and to equip others are the 12 transformations for stewards as shared by Richard A. Borg in his book, The Chief Steward.[i] Here they are exactly as he shares them:

1.       From idolatry to an exclusive love for God.

2.       From fear of economic need to an exclusive trust in God.

3.       From attraction to what is not possessed to contentment with what is possessed.

4.       From undisciplined squandering to a disciplined spending plan.

5.       From self-destruction of overachievement to having financial margin for God’s purposes.

6.       From the creature comforts of luxury to a more simplistic life of moderation.

7.       From giving sacrilege to giving sacrificially.

8.       From getting rich to wealth creation.

9.       From consumptive debt to productive debt.

10.   From selfish hoarding to responsible saving.

11.   From retirement as leisure to full participation in kingdom work.

12.   From denial of death to planned legacy.

Borg goes on to lay out more detail about each transformation but, even without further explanation, there is much here to challenge and shape us. One could take each of these transformations in turn and ask: Have I grown from (fear of economic need) to (an exclusive trust in God)? If the answer is no, then we would do well to investigate further why that is and how to grow in that area as a disciple. To be sure, we all have much growing to do yet. May God grant that by His Spirit, we can grow to be faithful followers of Jesus in every way- giving included!

[i] Pages 180-182, Borg, Richard A., The Chief Steward. Copyright 2008, Xulonpress.