1. Giving includes time and talents; but it does not exclude our monetary gifts. If we push to include time and talents because we recognize that they are part of what we have and are called to share, great. If we focus on time and talents because we do not want to discuss our financial giving, then we are avoiding the overall call the give.
2. We are made in God's image. God has modeled giving. To grow into our likeness to God, we should be givers.
3. Ran across this story, which some of you may have seen on FB.
Hundred dollar bill! Married couple Makenzie and Steven Schultz celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary at Kazoku sushi restaurant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but their love story is not what's making headlines. The couple left their waiter a $100 tip, even after receiving poor service, and their Facebook post explaining why has gone viral.
Makenzie
wrote about her experience on Saturday, Sept. 27, sharing a photo of
the receipt. "So here's the deal. Our service tonight sucked,"
she wrote. "Took 20 minutes to get water, 40 minutes for an
appetizer and over an hour for our entree. People all around us were
making fun of the restaurant & how bad the service was. Yeah, it
was pretty terrible."
Makenzie
explained that the problem, though, was not the waiter. "It was
very obvious that the issue was being short staffed, not the server.
He was running around like crazy and never acted annoyed with any
table," she continued. "At one point we counted he had 12
tables plus the bar. More than any one person could handle! As I sat
there and watched him run back & forth and apologize for the
wait, I said to Steven... 'Wow, this used to be us.' Waiting tables.
I don't miss it at all and I never loved that job. I did it for the
tips."
She
and her husband deliberated and decided to pay it forward to their
hardworking server. "Steven and I agreed it would feel good to
make this guys night when he would probably be getting minimal to no
tips due to slow service," she wrote. The couple left a $100 tip
for a $66.65 meal, and even wrote a sweet message for their server
Kyle H: "We've both been in your shoes. Paying it forward."
Since
the heartwarming photo of the receipt was posted, the update has
received over
190,000 plus shares and 1.5 million likes. "We walked out before
he saw this and I'm not posting this for a pat on the back," she
concluded. "I'm just sharing this as a friendly reminder to
think of the entire situation, before you judge. And always always
always remember where you came from. — with Steven Schultz."
Speaking
with the Today show on
Tuesday, Sept. 30, Makenzie said: "No matter how much you
apologize to tables, there are going to be people rolling their
eyes," she recalled of being a server herself. "Throughout
the dinner we were like, 'We've been in his position.'"
Read more: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/couple-leaves-waiter-a-100-tip-for-bad-service-facebook-message-2014309#ixzz3FeRcqOlH
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4. Dave Ramsay, noted Christian leader who teaches about financial management from a Christian perspective, suggests that we no longer know what the word "steward" means (he then goes into detail describing the steward as the one who managed the resources of the lord back in feudal days in England), which leads him to suggest that the term "asset manager" might be a better term. His point is that all we do is manage the resources given to us by God.
5. We do not give because God needs the money; or because the church needs the money; we give because we need to be givers (Dave Ramsay also talks about this, although it is not unique to his teaching).
6. When we give, we teach our children about giving. If a parent has not had a conversation with his or her child about giving/tithing, then an important teaching point has been left on the table.
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