What if We Don't Give?

“What if we don’t give?” That was the question asked innocently by the little ones in our family on Sunday morning, as I was writing a check for the weekly collection. I paused to think about how to answer. Ultimately, I chose to answer the personal, spiritual side of that question, rather than the material side. While there may be some financial effects on the local church, the more damaging consequence would take place in me.

In Luke 12:15, Jesus warned two brothers against every form of greed, adding, “for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” He then told a parable about a rich man who was blessed with an abundant harvest, who thought only of himself and how he might spend many years enjoying those blessings all for himself. He thought of no one else and imagined himself to be totally self-sufficient. God assessed his way of life, saying, “You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?” The rich man had remembered himself but had become a fool doomed for destruction by forgetting God and godliness altogether.

What if we don’t give? Please recognize that the scope of that question includes but also extends beyond the Sunday collection. If we cling tightly to our material wealth so that we might have the easiest life possible, we are living life foolishly and have behaved poorly toward God. Ultimately, God says we will lose our souls if we live greedily. Whether we are looking at giving in the collection, generosity toward friends, or hospitality toward strangers, all those whom God has blessed ought to give because they appreciate God who has given to them.