Why It’s Genius to be Generous by Chip Ingram3

AN UNEXPECTED ADVENTURE

John's idea was intriguing, and the cause was inspiring. But I was a little overwhelmed at first. What if I chose to give to the wrong people or for the wrong reasons? How much should I give to each situation? How would I figure out which cases were legitimate and which ones weren't? It felt like a lot of pressure, and I was nervous. But over time, it got easier and it got to be fun. Each day as I prepared to leave the house, I put my wallet in one back pocket and John's checkbook in the other. I started to feel like santa claus every day of the year, wondering who God wanted to help with John's money. It turned into an exciting adventure.
Three thing happened in my life as a result of this deal, and all of them had major impact. First, rarely a day went by that I didn't think about John Saville. Whenever I encountered someone in need-a young girl dealing with an unplanned pregnancy and preparing for a baby, or a family at church whose funds had completely run dry-I had to try to see through John's eyes. I was constantly asking myself, "What would John do in this situation? How would he spend his money here?
John and I had known each other for over a year because of our roles at church, but our paths only crossed once a week at church. I had rarely spent time thinking about John-until our deal. Then I found myself thinking about him multiple times a day, wondering how he would feel about certain situations and how he would respond to them. Over the next few months, I felt a lot closer to him than I ever had.
The second thing that happened was that I quickly learned how to balance a checkbook. I had never been particularly careful about my own. In fact, when I first got married, my idea of balancing a check book was to have a pretty close estimate of what the bank said I had. I didn't have much, so that wasn't really a problem. My wife had to explain that coming up with a sum that was within $20 or $30 of the bank's figures wasn't good enough. But that was with my money. Now that I was handling John's money, I had to be ready for him to ask me how things were going. I would have to give an account. There was no way I could face him if I had gotten a couple hundred dollars off track over time. I leaned how to be faithful pretty quickly.
Third, John and I became great friends. He never made me feel like his errand boy. Every few months, he would invite me into Dallas for lunch-and not the kind of lunch I was used to. This was no fast-food combo meal or daily special at the local diner. This was celebration.
So I would meet John at his office, and we would take the elevator up to the top floor of his skyscraper where you could see all of Dallas while you ate. The restaurant staff would greet him by name and give us menus with no prices on them. Waiters with white towels over their arms would come take our order and meet every need down to the tiniest details. And John would prompt me to indulge: "The filet is great here. Want to try it-and maybe some lobster with it?" He would remind me that God had been good to him and that he wanted to give me the best lunch possible. We were there to celebrate. So three or four times a year, John would buy me an extravagant meal and I would tell him extravagant storied how God had used his money.
After we got through talking about the pregnant teenagers and unemployed families and unpaid medical bills and down-and-outers who needed a helping hand-story after story after story-John would utter an uncomfortably loud "praise the Lord" and then, with a twinkle in his eyes, say, "Let's do it again!" And he would fill up the discretionary account with some more funds and we'd state the cycle all over again. It was one the wildest experiences I've ever had.
Do you see what happened? This "deal" or partnership, as he put it, caused me to get to know John, learn his perspective, and gain unique insight about how he wanted me to spend his money. It caused me to become very faithful and accountable in what he had entrusted to me. And it caused this old godly man and young energetic pastor who had little in common to become best friends as we celebrated the fruits of our efforts.
I'm sure you see the spiritual correlation by now. This is a pretty powerful picture of our relationship with God and the way we manage His resources. Why did I start thinking about John all the time? Because I had a responsibility to act in his interests-just as God invites us to represent Him in this world. Why did I become faithful? Because it was his money-just as we become faithful stewards of the resources God entrust to us. Why did John and I become such good friends? Because we got together to celebrate-just as God enjoys celebrating with us over the fruit He bears through us when we partner with Him to love those in need.