2 Corinthians
9:7 English Standard Version (ESV)
7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly
or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Last Sunday as I stood from the pulpit of my congregation
and spoke God’s message for His people, I spoke about living life with an
Attitude of Gratitude. On Monday morning
I lived with an Attitude of Gratitude, but on Tuesday morning I find myself
working from my office at home as I await a plumber’s arrival to our home. Yes, how can one have an Attitude of
Gratitude when they are forced to spend money that has not been budgeted for
such an item?
It seems as I am always worrying about something, and for
many of us money or lack of it seems to be constantly on our minds. As we face
this election year we have seen that secrets and personal information has been
leaked about our candidates, information that has occurred in the past as well
as recently. It seems as trust and the keeping of information has fallen to a
low time moment, but it gives people an opportunity to be honest about their
past, present, and future.
As a pastor, I am called to keep confidences. Keeping one trust and confidence is essential to the trust that one must have in their pastors. But as a pastor,
my life is an open book and it will always be. In my life I have faced episodes
of clinical depression and anxiety, which I have been able to keep a reign on,
with the help of counseling and medication.
Every so often this depression makes itself known, especially when I
feel that I or a member of my family have been treated incorrectly. Often
people tell me not to take it personally, but they do not understand that for a
person that suffers from depression, personally is the only way we know how to
take it.
I am not ashamed to speak about my bouts with depression and anxiety,
because I know that God has given me the strength to fight these battles and
come out on the other side. When one struggles with periods of depression they
see no way out, and they feel as they are the blame for what they are in every
event that they face.
With this being said, what does this have to do with giving
of Time, Talents, and Resources to your local church? My friends, it’s all
about attitude and pressing our way through difficult situations by taking on
the task at hand instead of burying the problem. We are called to be honest
with ourselves and honest with others, be it physical, emotional, or spiritual ailments.
Likewise the ministry must be honest with itself in its needs and requirements
to stay healthy and vital.
As you read articles on church giving and speak with many
pastors, church giving is way down. Sharing the blessings that God has gifted
us with seems to be a harder and harder task to undertake. As we sit down on a
weekly and monthly basis where does our church come on the list of sharing your
blessings? When we break down the needs of church ministry we must understand
that to keep the doors open and God’s work continuing, the occasional dollar or
two in the offering plate on Sunday will not keep a ministry operating (I say
ministry, because the church is the people who minister, and praise God in a
place of worship).
Beloved, God’s call for all of us is to be honest with
ourselves in whatever we are facing. Likewise, we must be honest with the needs
of our local church ministries, and how we are supplying the work and the funds
to continue God’s work in this world. Can you change a light bulb, fix a leaky pipe?
Can you find a skill that you have to benefit God’s Kingdom? What are you
grateful about and how can you share that for God’s glory?
As I sit here and await a plumber and pay him, I do so with
an Attitude of Gratitude in the fact that God has given be abundant blessings,
such as water out of a faucet and a roof over my head.
God has given us all our respective houses of worship and
the Attitude of Gratitude is that it is not about money, it is about God and
our work as the Body of Christ in it. So give cheerfully of your time, talents
and resources with Attitudes of Gratitude. You will be glad that you did, and
you will be grateful.
Thanks for reading, thanks for being grateful, and thanks
for being cheerful
Pastor Tim.
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