Have you ever chided yourself for spending money with your heart and not your head? Of many sad personal tales I could tell, I made a purchase not long ago that at the time seemed very sensible. Needing a new lawn mower, I went to a local home center where they were having a great sale on mowers. The one I fixated on was a rechargeable battery model. I thought, “this will not only be good for the environment (no gas), I won’t have to pull a cord incessantly to get the darn thing started.” All was well and good for a while, until…it wasn’t. Even with newly charged batteries, I went to start it and…crickets. Nada. Zippo. I brought it back to the home center, they took if for repairs, and I waited. And waited. And waited some more. In frustration, I went back in to investigate this interminable delay. Of course, no one could help, they didn’t have the right code, no tracking info. So I waited. And waited. And waited some more. They finally determined that the mower was defective and beyond repair. Adding insult to injury, the customer service person said, “never buy that brand.” Great. Just great.

 Sometimes we make bad choices with our money. When it comes to Christian stewardship of treasure, time, and talent, we often give with our head and not our heart. Our head, connected to the bank account, sees depleted funds and makes a bad choice to withhold from God. We rationalize by saying, “I wish I could give more, but I can’t.” When we give from a spiritual mindset of abundance, we realize that God amply provides the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the other items (like lawnmowers) that manage our lives. God bids us to spend from our heart, attempting to mesh our passions with the world’s greatest needs.

(I might have to remember all this come fall, when we emphasize stewardship in my congregation!)

Whether we choose wisely or poorly, our good and gracious God still loves us unconditionally.

Pastor Art