Millions. No, I am sure it is billions. Perhaps I still underestimate. Mounds and mounds of dollars piling up in accounts of churches who confess these two truths with their lips:
- Jesus’ return is imminent, like today or tomorrow imminent.
- God will provide for our needs and that in a daily way.
Those billions belie these beliefs.
Yes, I am suggesting that churches saving for its own sake is poor stewardship. Oh to save to accomplish a specific goal is laudable. But no praise should be lifted for the act of simply storing up that which has been given. How many billions will still be in the bank unspent when Jesus sounds the trumpet? How many churches will never have the true sense of God’s provision for them due to the barns they have built at the local bank?
Matthew 25:25-26 “I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’Â But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant!
Oh I hear the responses now. “We just honoring the wishes of those who gave.” I suspect Jesus might say, “You leave the wishes of God and hold to the wishes of men.” (cf. Mark 7:8)
I am not suggesting half-hazard spending of what is received. But I am suggesting spending of what is received. Spend it to feed the found. Spend it to seek the lost. This is the stewardship of spending.
