Have we lost God's vision of an ideal giver: "God loves a cheerful giver"?

Some congregations have already been through the process because their fiscal years begin midyear. Others are beginning or even well along in discussing the budget that will begin with the next year. Whenever the discussions started, challenges persist for congregations and for the synod as well.

Money. Money to pay the electric and other bills. Money to continue teaching and preaching the gospel. Money to stretch the reach of the gospel into existing and new places at home and abroad.

Money seems to be a bad word that often we don't want to hear. I remember a guest at worship saying quite loudly when the collection plate was passed, "All they want is my money." Perhaps that comment has passed through the minds of more than the occasional guest at worship. Perhaps it's passed though the minds of those who regularly attend worship. It maybe even has been expressed in conversations at home.

It seems that we even may have tried to avoid the word by creating our stewardship emphasis with a focus on time, talent, and treasure. By diluting the emphasis a bit, we might avoid the word money. It's a difficult task to talk about money.

Discussions about the budget are sometimes heated. That's true even in marriages, where passionate opinions about money create family tension and—more often than we realize—conflict. My money. Your money. Our money. The discussions become more challenging when incomes shrink for a variety of reasons. In budget meetings and congregational forums, money discussions often mirror what happens in individual homes.

Have we lost God's vision of an ideal giver: "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7)? Cheerful? Money? In the same breath? How can that be? Without an understanding of God's grace in Jesus, it's not possible for me or anyone else. We are all naturally greedy, selfish, and unwilling to give. "It's mine," we say to ourselves and others.

But something changed within us when the Holy Spirit created faith in Jesus. We see things differently, and we think in a spiritual way, not in a natural way. Jesus redeemed us—dying in our place and rising again so we have forgiveness and eternal life. I can't buy those things. They are undeserved gifts of God's grace. They are mine. They are yours. They are for all of humanity.

Then we look at life here also as a gift from God, and everything, including food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, spouse, children, friends—yes, money and goods too—also as gifts from our heavenly Father. Through Jesus, we think of those things less as ours and more as his, given for our use.