THE TREASURE PRINCIPLE

Lifestyle changing! I am sure all of you are enjoying our study through The Treasure
Principle by Randy Alcorn. Its a wonderful call to begin a new lifestyle of giving with eternity in mind. It calls for us to examine closely our checkbooks. It demands that we use eternal wisdom with every puchase. It should cause us to budget with a strategic game plan to give. Not just give, but sacrificially give. Such a lifestyle is completely freeing!

This week I was blessed by the following section on page 59 of chapter four, where he vividly descibes the freedom in sacrificial giving, freedom that comes from an acknowledgement of the Lordship of Christ over our money. Alcorn writes,

The act of giving is a vivid reminder that it's all about God, not about us. It's saying I am not the point, He is the point. He does not exist for me. I exist for Him. God's money has a higher purpose than my affluence. Giving is a joyful surrender to a greater person and a greater agenda. Giving affirms Christ's lordship. It dethrones me and exalts Him. It breaks the chains of mammon that would enslave me.

As long as I still have something, I believe I own it. But when I give it away, I relenquish control, power, and prestige. At the moment of release the light turns on. The magic spell is broken. My mind clears. I recognize God as owner, myself as servant and others as intended beneficiaries of what God has entrusted to me.