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More recently, secret millionaire Tony Banks was all smiles (and some tears) when he visited Liverpool. Banks, a Falklands veteran and successful businessman, gave £130,000 to various Liverpool community projects. Most compelling, however, was his time with Lee Sanger, who returned from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder. Tony gave Lee the opportunity to be generous himself, handing him £30,000 to give to the charity of his choice.
Tony Banks left Liverpool having changed lives, including his own, for it seemed he found some healing of his own memories. That is what generosity does. It changes the giver as well as the one who receives. But why is this?
Have you ever seen a 'bodger' (usually found in Shropshire) using a traditional pole lathe to turn beautiful wooden pieces? Because pole lathes are powered only by the bodger's foot, a bodger must work with the grain of the wood and so produce stronger, more durable pieces. Imagine for one minute God as the bodger and us, the unworked pieces of wood. To give of our time, our talents and our treasure is to work with the grain of how God made us. When we live generously, when our giving means something and costs something we reflect the nature of God himself: 'For God so loved the world that he gave....' (John 3:16). Not to give is to reject the person God created us to be. Giving and living generously makes us stronger, frees us from the chains of materialism, opens us up to a full life, hope and healing.
Please pray about the person God wants you to be. Please pray about how you show & share the love of God through generosity. Please pray about and review your regular giving to support the work of your church in 2010.
Some inspirational words that may help:
Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience.... and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. (2 Cor. 9:13-14 )
What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal. Albert Pine
We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love. Mother Teresa
Money is like muck, not good except it be spread'. Francis Bacon
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