Chase the Setting Sun...

Tonight I spent three heavenly hours in a meeting for leaders of our church's capital campaign. Ok, maybe all three hours weren't heavenly. Nonetheless, it was beneficial in some ways. Just some background. A few years ago our church built a new sanctuary. It was long overdue and completely necessary in my opinion. Of course there are only two ways to pay for a new building like this 1) pay in cash and 2) go into debt. It is now our task to pay off the debt.


A phrase that our campaign coordinator brought up a lot was "sacrificial giving." His challenge to everyone in our meeting, as well as the church as a whole, was to "give sacrificially." I got to thinking, what does it mean to give sacrificially? Is it different for everyone, or does it mean the same thing? C.S. Lewis came to mind...


In Chapter 3 of his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis says this,

"I'm afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away way too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them."

This to me is what it means to give sacrificially. As human beings we are particularly driven by our own status in society. What car do we drive? How big is our house? What kind of clothes do we wear? How many followers do we have on Twitter? We want to at least match if not exceed those in our income bracket in our possessions.


C.S. Lewis says that we should take a look at what everyone else in our income bracket has and make sure that we have less. He doesn't say that we should give away 90% of our income, but we should see how others are living comfortably (or more than comfortably) and give a little more. Our giving should make us a little uncomfortable.


The church talks a lot about tithing. Personally, my wife and I do tithe our 10% each month. However, I'm not sure that formula works for everyone. For some people, 10% is outrageous and would bankrupt them to just all of the sudden start forking over 10% of their income. For others, 10% is a drop in the bucket and they would have to go up to maybe 20-30% before they feel the impact.


I think giving sacrificially means the same thing for a person making $20,000/yr and someone making $1,000,000/yr. It is the specific numbers that are different. Give until it makes us a little uncomfortable.


So I am challenged to try take another look at our finances over the next couple of months before the giving phase of the campaign starts and see if we can sacrifice a little more. To be honest the 10% we do give right now feels like it hurts enough, but maybe God can help us find a way to squeeze out a few more percent to try and pay down some debt.


How is God challenging you to give sacrificially?