Hospitality: An Old Testament Example
Read: 2 Kings 4:8-17 One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. (v. 8) While there are numerous commands in the New Testament for God’s people to be hospitable, the Old Testament also has many examples of hospitality in practice. Today’s example involves the prophet […]
Hospitality Defined
Read: Acts 2:37-47 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship. (v. 42) While we may not hear much these days about hospitality, we certainly hear about “entertaining.” Home magazines and make-over shows emphasize all the things that will impress your guests when you entertain: big, bright spaces, unique recipes, and fabulous food. The […]
Confessions of a Recovering Miser
Read: Mark 14:3-9 She has done what she could. (v. 8) I write these devotionals not only for you but also for me. I am a recovering miser. My kids used to call me “El Cheapo.” Last Christmas, when I did something generous for my family, one of them said, “Who are you, and what have […]
Prodigal Giving
Read: Luke 15:11-32 Bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. (v. 23) The word prodigal has come to mean “wayward,” but the root of the word is the same as the word prodigious. Prodigal can mean “bountiful, abundant, and generous.” The story Jesus tells in Luke 15 is really the […]
The Price of a Soul
Read: Matthew 16:24-28 What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? (v. 26) There is a devastatingly beautiful scene at the end of the movie Schindler’s List when Oskar Schindler is racked with guilt for not saving more Jews during the Holocaust. He looks at his wristwatch, ring, […]
The Floor or the Ceiling?
Read: Leviticus 27:30-33 Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord’s. (v. 30) Tithing was common practice in Israel, commanded here and also commented on in the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy. It is mentioned early in the Bible, in the story […]
Gratitude and Joy!
Read: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 God loves a cheerful giver. (v. 7) I keep this quote from the theologian Karl Barth on my desk: “Gratitude follows grace like thunder lightning.” Everything I do as a fundraiser comes from gratitude. Gratitude is the fuel of the fire of giving. At its heart, giving is a response. Our life, […]
Give like the Macedonians
Read: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. (v. 4 NLT) I once had a wealthy person tell me that two different fundraisers had asked her for money by complaining about people who didn’t fulfill pledges they had made. She hadn’t […]
Leave Something Behind
Read: Deuteronomy 24:19-22 You shall not go back to get it. (v. 19) My wife and I have been married for more than 30 years, and I suppose for any couple to have been married that long requires agreement on most things. Yet there is one area where we constantly disagree: we disagree over the definition […]