Sharing Is Caring

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 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. ...

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 and 10-12

Pastor Arum’s recent sermon “Sharing Is Caring” resonated with me deeply. “We share because we love God. He matters to us because everything we have is from Him.” I know it now, but this has not always been the case for me. While donating my time has usually been my second nature, donating my treasures was not.

I came to the U.S. in my early 20s with just a 70-pound suitcase, no credit card or checking account and just a handful of dollars in my wallet. Money that my parents saved up for me in our home country lost most of its value after the fall of the communist regime, and I spent the rest of it on my travel to England and the U.S. where I was an au pair, housemaid and student of English language. I myself at times benefited from various donations from others. Even if I had been aware of tithing, I would have thought I certainly had no financial means to be able to share.

Even after I came to Christ at St. Thomas, it took several years of my spiritual journey for the importance of tithing and donating to fully sink in. But when I did it, it became gratifying and has been so since then.

Sharing our treasures makes us switch from being merely recipients to participants. As Pastor Arum reiterated, we share because we are thankful and want to show our gratitude, to express our praise, love, obedience, and devotion to God. God does not need our money; He wants our heart. Faith without action is dead. We are called to put our hope in God and share with others cheerfully.

Would you pray with me?

Giving God, we receive so much from you and because of that, we have much to give. May we share in the blessings of giving as well as the happiness of receiving, so that Your love may be more widely known and shared through Jesus Christ. Amen.

About Zuzana Steen

She first came to St. Thomas UMC as an atheist in 1996 and came to Christ there. Together with her husband and two teenage sons, she continues to be involved in the life of our church.