Unlocking Barriers to Giving
By Hope van Noppen, with Rebecca van Noppen
In the Disney movie Finding Nemo, you may remember dozens of greedy seagulls swirling around the harbour screaming “Mine! Mine! Mine!”; all their attention focused on eating Nemo and Dory who were on a mission to find Nemo’s son.
Mine. Mine. Mine. No sharing. Just taking and keeping.
When it comes to money, we may have trouble resisting the same temptation the seagulls faced. We say and behave in a way that prioritizes our own wants and desires. We can find ourselves in a rut where life is about “me, me, me”. Giving and generosity may not even enter our minds.
Jesus spoke to us very clearly “to be on our guard against all kinds of greed” because “life does not consist in an abundance of possessions (Luke 12:15, NIV). Through story telling, Jesus reminds us not to store up earthly treasures for ourselves but to be “rich towards God” (Luke 12:21).
So how do we avoid this rut of selfishness and learn to become generous?
- Firstly, discover what is truly important in your life. Money is a good indicator of where your heart is, so track your spending and become curious about what is capturing your attention.
- Give out of a relationship with Christ rather than a spirit of fear. As More Than Enough financial coach David van Noppen says, “make every spending, giving, saving and investing decision a spiritual one”. Ask God where to give, what to give, and how much. Trust Him with the answers.
- Remember the money is God’s, not ours. He is the Source of our lives and it is a reality to keep at the forefront of our minds.
Love Guaranteed
Whether we give more money or less, God’s passionate, inexplicable, hope-filled love doesn’t change. It is out of this love we give of our money, time, talent, and expertise, not through fear of God’s disfavour. When we choose legalistic giving, it restricts us from the freedom we desire and the love we want to share. Jesus warned the Pharisees about adhering to the law over following the commands of God to love others ( See Matthew 15:3-9 and 23:23). Let’s keep our hands and hearts open.
Avoiding the Rut:
- Spend time with God. When you know His love, you will not be afraid to give what He asks.
- Remember God’s love. It is not dependent on what you do or how you manage your money.
- God doesn’t need our money. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He really doesn’t need our money, but He is inviting us into an adventure of generosity that opens doors of blessing for others. As a result, we experience God’s life of abundance and freedom when we give.
Open Hands, Free Lives
At the core, God wants our giving to be a reflection of our intimate relationship with Him. He wants us to bring our anxieties about ‘not having enough’ to Him. Opening up about our fears and anxieties is part of daily walking with Him. If we allow fear to rule our decision making, we run the risk of betraying the love God has called us to extend to others.
So Let’s Remember
God cares about us, not our stuff. He wants us to freely share our blessings. If we are paying attention, we can see him gently—and not so gently—working to expose the grip that material possessions have on our lives, encouraging us to embrace the freedom that comes from sharing our blessings with others.
The refrain of “Mine! Mine! Mine!” may very well turn into “Yours! Yours! Yours!”