Economic Crisis

"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matt. 6.1-4 NIV)

I love the idea of this blog. I pray that God will empower our conversations and make us all better disciples.

I wanted to start off sharing about giving for a couple reasons. First, it's a discipline that my wife and I have embraced; second, it is a discipline that is very necessary right now.

It is so easy to let giving go when money is tight. In this economy we are all faced with having to cut back on the money that goes out, our giving can't be on the chopping block.

Giving is close to the heart of God. When we give, we look like God. Here Jesus teaches us to give in secret. I've struggled with how to interpret this - do we give only in cash so that no one knows? Do we claim our giving on our tax return?

I honestly don't know, but what I do know is that giving is an expression of the heart of God and that when we give we are to not expect any credit or praise from people.