2 Corinthians 8:11-13 – “But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability; For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality.”
Dave’s business had been growing at a record pace for nearly twenty years, and then 9/11 hit and rocked our country and his company. For the next twenty months, profits became a myth. In fact, he was losing money, lots of money, every month. One afternoon Dave found himself sitting at his desk agonizing at how this all happened so fast—and how he was going to lay off hundreds of people—over twenty-five percent of his staff. While he sat in silence his phone rang and he could see it was from his favorite ministry.
Dave picked up, needing an encouraging word, and before long the director said they had a great opportunity to grow but needed a very, very large gift and then they asked if he could help. He wanted to tell him “No”, but his heart told him to listen. Dave thought, “How could I give when my company was on the verge of massive layoffs, and I hadn’t made a dime in nearly two years?” This seemed crazy. He didn’t have the kind of money that was being asked of him! Despite his instinct to decline he told his friend he would pray and get back to him.
An Act of Obedience
After much prayer, Dave and his wife decided they not only needed to give to this opportunity but that they needed to double their annual giving. Instead of giving less, God was calling them to give more. They had every excuse to cut back on their giving for a while as they had no income, but God was asking them to give—not out of their excess but out of their savings. At first, both Dave and his wife argued with God telling Him, “This is OURS. If we give this away, we will have nothing. What are you doing God?” But they soon relented and gave as they were able, and God has blessed them in far greater ways as they trusted Him with what was truly His.
As followers of Christ, we are called to give according to our means, but few of us really understand and apply this principle. God owns it all and asks us to manage His assets as He wills. He provides us with all we need, even our ability to make wealth. God provides all we need as “we provide” for ourselves. God does not ask us to give out of what “we do not have”. However, most give out of their excess. It is easy to give out of our excess, but God calls us to give according to our means. We often view “our means” much differently than God views them.
Expanding Our Perspective
Our means can be illustrated as a pipe. A small-diameter pipe can only produce a small flow, whereas a large, wide pipe can produce a much larger flow. We see our giving as flowing through these pipes, but we see our pipes as very small, as the average American gives less the 2 percent per year. In fact, if we viewed our pipe as holding more than just our money, we have massive amounts of treasure filling our pipe that we can share—and God owns it all. He fills our pipe so we can give according as God provides.