On Sunday, I preached at Jubilee about giving. Basing ourselves in Malachi 3, we looked at what the Bible has to say about generous, grace filled giving, as part of a life that’s sold out to God and committed to His purposes. We looked at how giving to God is not primarily a financial issue, it’s actually a heart issue. It flows out of a heart totally devoted to God. Anything we give to God, as part of our worship, should actually reflect the whole. The part given represents the whole, because we want to give everything to the Lord.
One of my quotes came from CS Lewis in Mere Christianity, where he answers the question as to how much we should give. He says this:
“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusement, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our giving does not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say it is too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot because our commitment to giving excludes them.”
In typical Lewis style, this is a challenging and provocative statement. So, how are you doing with your giving?
Like around 2 billion other people, I spent Friday watching the Royal Wedding, of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. I was particularly struck by the opening line from the address by the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres. The line was this:
Graham Pyman 
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