Gifts that are not thought through.... |
Dec 26, 2009 |
Last week, my challenge was for you (actually all of us) to give a gift that makes the greatest impact and benefits the receiver during Christmas.
Well, Christmas Day has come and gone….did you get something special? Were your gifts thought through and were they what you needed? Were these gifts things that will be to your betterment or will they be a distraction for you?
As we begin the New Year, allow me to share with you a little more why we need to think about this in our giving. Let’s take a look at a couple of scenarios.
Quick wealth given through an inheritance, or even winning the lottery (not technically a gift) most of the time has an adverse affect and leaves individuals broke because they weren’t ready for what was given to them. These people would seem to have it all but weren’t ready to take on the new responsibility that comes with new found wealth. Knowing how to manage money, how to say “no” to those who ask, tax issues and the ultimate lifestyle changes that begin to take place. On the surface you would hope that a huge gift like this would drastically impact your receiver, but would the impact be what was best for the receiver?
Or, how about hearing that knock at your door and seeing Ty Pennington from “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” animatedly inform you that you were going to get a new home. Just what you thought you needed because your old house just wasn’t adequate etc. You jump for joy and gladly go away for a week to return to this new found responsibility. A gift that was given with good intentions but one that often doesn’t’ always benefit the receiver. Many of these recipients are having adverse affects from a gift such as this. Continued mortgage payments, higher heating/electrical costs, higher property taxes, greater up keep costs etc. has bound more people to their “new stuff” than has actually benefited them.
My thought today is for you to take o ur definition of Transformational Giving and post it somewhere you could read it throughout this coming year. I would pray that you would not give gifts just because you think they would be received well, or that they made you feel good, but that you would allow God to show you what, when and who you should give to this coming year.
Transformational Giving defined: Transformational giving is a collaboration between you and God in which He infuses your corporate and personal assets with His grace as you offer them in the way He asks to the people and purposes that He directs.”
