Give your money, your life or your underpants?
Today we were in the church and there I saw this at the coffee corner:
Now is my Russian a bit rusty, but the Bible text was easy to find in English:
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:7

And the line above it says:
God loves a cheerful giver.
(Google translate, go go go!)
Mhhhh and that got me thinking… this is at the coffee corner. You get the coffee, for free and if you want to give something for it, you can. No coercion, no whole sermons about “giving”, nothing. Only this.
And I loved that. In all honesty, I’m so tired of the sermons about giving, 10% blah blah and more. Why? Because it shouldn’t be so terribly necessary! And yet… at least once a year, that sermon passes by again, and when it is December, all charities will “start to shout”. In other words: it is necessary… otherwise there will simply be too little money and people to achieve the great goals that we all consider essential. But pulling your wallet or giving time… mhhhh?
At school, in the Netherlands, back in the day, you played “catch me if you can” and when you caught the other person, you said very loudly: (in Dutch, so well translate it in English)
Give me your money, your life or your underpants!!
Schoolyard 1979, yeah I’m that old.
And I thought about that in church. Yep, thinking about underpants in church… yep… but here it comes:
God has given you a world that we can enjoy every day. A beautiful world with polar bears, hummingbirds, trees and beautiful people.
But you (and I) ate that apple in paradise, and because of that sin, the polar bears (and more) are now dying… And God is NOT happy about that… and yet… he has given us a second chance… He has given His son Jesus, for 100%, sent Him to earth, 100%, to take that punishment (eating that apple and destroying the whole world that He had made so beautiful), 100%…. and if you believe that, there will be a new earth and heaven for you. 100%. Where no more polar bear dies… Wow. all the way, everything, 100%!
And yet… when we talk about: what do you give back to God, to His creation? Then it becomes difficult… Why??? Why the everlasting 10% discussion? It’s way, way, way more.
Money: We get it, not everyone can easily transfer “your money” because some people have a hard time making it to “the end of the month”. We do get that. But if you have a lot… why only spend just 10%? Isn’t that weird?
Your life: But if you don’t have the money, maybe you can pay with “your life”? How much time do you spend doing good things for God’s glory? For example, you work 40 hours a week…how many hours were there for God this week? Did you spend one minute to feed the homeless? That might be an idea? Or not giving them food, but some attention: “How are you doing?”. Be creative with time.
Your underpants: And if you can’t do that either, for whatever reason, perhaps give away those “underpants”? Do you perhaps know people who can no longer make ends meet… and their coffee maker is broken… perhaps give them a new one? If necessary, go to the second hand shop, ask around, take care of it!
If you really understand what God has done for you, 100%, and are happy with it… then reluctance or coercion makes no sense, does it? Then you give cheerfully. Or are we still having the 10% discussion? No, we can’t have that if we really get what God has done.
And if we give with a cheerful heart, we can finally skip that sermon about “money” and “come and do something about missions sermon” and do what really makes God happy: praise Him for who He is. Can not wait for that moment.
So, what will it be today? Your money, your life, or give away those underpants? For God His glory.
And are you already doing that? Keep doing it! Yes, we understand that sometimes it can be quite difficult making the choices, what can you do, what not, but keep pushing! Well done, we are really proud of you! And that’s an understatement.
(and no, this is not a hint, we have great underpants ourselves, #lol)