Saving all you can is something that I've been thinking a lot about lately. This doesn't mean hoarding all your money or saving everything and being amazingly cheap, depriving yourself of what you need and want. It simply means that we should figure out ways to spend only what we need to. How much do we need to live on? Do we really need to own everything ourselves, or can we rent it from the library or lend from a friend? Yes, God wants us to have the best, wants us to have all we need, but where do we draw the line between what we need and superfluity? I've been struggling with this lately because I want to keep my things, but I find that with moving so much, I just don't have room to keep it. I don't really need 50 t-shirts, or 30 DVDs, or any of it. I am coming to realize that as long as I have a place to sleep, clothes on my back, food in my stomach, and the Word of God, I've got all I need. Now, I'm sure that this will all change when I have a family and want them to have space and toys and all the good things that kids want, but I still don't want them to take it for granted. You don't realize what you have until you don't have it anymore, and it's all worth less to us if we don't have to earn it. I want to instill that in any children that I may raise.
Giving all you can is something that I have been slacking on majorly. I tend to say, "but I'm a poor college student, I don't have anything!" But that's not true. Everything that I have is a gift from God, and I need to be giving part of it back into His service. Deuteronomy 16:16-17 says "No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: 17 Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you." Even if our portions have been small, a small offering is still due. We talked about three places to give, (1) to the church, (2) to missions, and (3) to the poor. Malachi 3 talks about how if we bring the tithe into the storehouse, God will bless us abundantly, and 2 Corinthians 9 says that God loves a cheerful giver. I want to be more faithful in my giving, I tend to rely on myself too much though, and want to make sure that I have enough saved up. I know that God is with me and provides in every way, I have seen Him do it! It was a good reminder to hear, and very encouraging for me.
It was just good to hear encouragement in this area. With my support raising right now, this is a touchy topic for me. I tend to inch away from these topics because I feel like I am imposing on so many people by asking them to give. I need to change my thinking though and look at it from a biblical perspective. People need to give, the Bible says we need to, it is a form of worship; I am giving people an opportunity to give, not begging. I need to start seeing money not as something to hold at arms length and never think about or discuss, but rather another gifting from God that I need to learn how to manage in a way that will glorify Him.
