217 - Holiday Giving : Part 5
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Resources from this episode:
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Show Notes:
Get ready for the icing on the cake for the best kept secret to a holiday season full of joy and contentment. You ready? It's giving. It's giving. It's being intentional about giving away the resources that God has blessed you with. We're wrapping up this holiday series with the best episode of them all, holiday giving.
For the full episode, hit play above or read through below.
Dave Ramsey said,
“The most fun that you can have with money is giving it away.”
And I have to agree with him. I'm so excited about this episode because there's a lot of things that we can do to make our holidays better. We have gone through what it looks like to have beautiful holiday traditions and how to plan your holiday schedule in advance and how to budget and plan for your gifts and how to plan for your holiday food and how to enjoy all of those things well.
But today, today is the real key and the real secret to a holiday season full of joy and contentment. Giving does something to our hearts and our spirits that nothing else we do this Christmas season can do. It's different. It touches you in a different way and it really shows you how much we have, how to be content. And it truly is, it's the most fun that you'll ever have this holiday season.
Now I wanna start this episode by talking a little bit about what the Bible says about giving. And this is very basic. You might already know all this, but I feel like it's just good to have a refresher. First of all, the Bible says that you shouldn't just give one time a year, right? We need to be giving all year round and that's called tithing. We give 10% to the Lord, our firstfruits to him. The first 10% that we make, we give it back to our local church and that is tithing 10% of your income. Now the word tithe literally means 10th in Hebrew and it's biblical. It goes all the way back to the Old Testament.
So Leviticus 27:30 says “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or the fruit of the trees, it is the Lord's.” It's holy to the Lord. So it's already his. We're just returning back to him what is already his. Proverbs 3:9 says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth with the first fruits of all of your produce.”
And Abraham even gave a tithe or 10th to Melchizedek in the Old Testament. So there's precedent in the Old Testament, but the beauty of it is it doesn't stop there. Tithing is continued in the New Testament and actually I think the best like passage or teaching on this as found in the book God and Money, if you wanna dig deeper in this, I think it's just such a wonderful book and resource on money and the Lord in a really like biblical insight on it.
I'm not gonna go into that today because this isn't an episode about giving and tithing as much as it's just giving around the holiday season. But one of the things that it talks about in that book is how the New Testament believers saw tithe as a baseline. That's like our starting point as Christians. Now that we know Jesus and the sacrifice that he made for us and all that he's given to us, we have a new example to follow where we are. We're marked to be the most generous people because we've been given the most and we have a God that we know is gonna provide for us.
And so tithing, here's a little secret, it's not really for God's benefit. He doesn't need us to tithe to keep the the kingdom going. It's been for our benefit. It changes our heart, it changes who we are. When we say this is the Lord's, we're returning it to you. We are trusting you with all of our income and our testimony and the testimony of a lot of people we know is that when you're tithing faithfully, you are just blessed financially, health every, it's like God's hand of provision is on you. And it's a beautiful thing to see.
Anyway, I'm getting carried away talking about tithing and giving, but there's tithes and offerings. Okay? You hear the word tithes and offerings, it's always like lumped together. And the thing is, is there are two different things. Tithe is the first 10% of your increase that you, you return to the Lord. Offering is anything above that. And December is a big time for ministries and organizations and even us in our personal family lives to think about giving above and beyond the tithe. So that's what I wanna talk about today is how December and how this holiday season is just a beautiful time of year to really stretch those giving muscles and go above and beyond a tithe and to give a lot in our offerings.
But we're not just gonna talk about money today. We're not just gonna talk about giving of our financial resources. We're gonna talk about a lot of other things as well. First and foremost, second Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each of you should give what you've decided in your heart to give not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver.”
So there's a couple parts to this verse. Each of you should give what you've decided in your heart to give. This is something that you and your husband should talk about and pray about and decide for you and your household. Of all the different people listening to this podcast episode, there's gonna be so many different families, so many different income levels, so many different numbers of children in your family, so many different career paths. And that's okay. That's the beauty of the body of Christ. It is up to you and your family, your household, you and your husband to decide in your heart what you give, not reluctantly or under compulsion but cheerfully. And so it, this is supposed to be a very fun conversation of how we can give and bless others.
So once we've tithed, once we have given the Lord back to him what is his, the first 10%, we get to talk about offerings. We get to talk about giving more financially to different organizations or people. And today we're gonna talk about all the different creative ways we can give, but we also get to talk about how we can give give of our time and our talents too.
So this might be a really abundant Christmas for you financially where you have a lot financially to give. This might be a really lean tight Christmas for you. Doesn't matter where you are, you can give. You can give. And we have given in all different seasons of our life financially in all different seasons of raising families or before we had kids. And it's always looked different.
But the, the main thing is, is that you stop and you think about how can I bless others this Christmas because it is the most fun that you are gonna have this Christmas season. So let's talk about practical ways to give, let's talk about creative ways to give and then I'm gonna just share with you a list of resources and ways that we, through the years organizations that we've given to and books on giving and just different resources that will help you if this feels like an area that you might want to grow in, the resources I give are gonna, are gonna really bless you.
So let's talk about, first you can give your time. You can just volunteer your time at a ministry nearby to you locally or close to your heart. Just if you send them an email and ask if there is a way or an afternoon or a morning that you have to give. If you can serve, I almost guarantee that they're gonna have space for you. Whether it is serving lunch at a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter or like there's a ministry nearby us that uses horses to minister to really abused children. And so they have like a community day where we can go and help clean up the stables. I mean there's so many different opportunities. Just look around at the local ministries near you and just shoot them an email and say, how can I, how can I give my time this year?
Another easy way to give is simply doubling a meal that you're already making for your family and then delivering it to someone who needs it. Whether it is a neighbor or a new mom or someone who's been sick or someone that God just puts on your heart. That's a great way to just stretch your meal. And if it's like a lean budget Christmas for you, that doesn't cost a lot of money and it doesn't even cost a lot of time 'cause you're already cooking those things. Same thing if you're having like a Christmas cookie day or a baking day or you're making pumpkin bread or something like that. Just double the recipe. Share it with some neighbors.
Another way to give, which does not require finances or or money, it's not financial giving. It's just to give of your talent, your gift, your specific gifts and skill that God has given you in your career path. Or maybe it's something that you're just good at. Just kind of think about that.
Like who could I bless with the gifts that I have, whether you know, if you are I, I don't know why I'm random thinking of these random professions, but like if you're a financial advisor, you could give an hour of your time away to meet with a couple who maybe is having a hard time financially. Or I remember when I was a photographer, I would try to give away a session. We even gave away free wedding photography a couple of times and just thinking of ways to bless people who might need it, who otherwise couldn't afford it. So just thinking about what your skills and gifts are and give that away.
You could buy gift cards for groceries. This is a really practical gift idea. Buy like a $20, $50 grocery gift card or a gas card and bundle them together and just leave them in people's mailboxes. That would be such a fun thing to do for your family. Or just do like one simple gift card and just keep it in your glove box and just pray about who you can give it to. And maybe God's gonna lead you to put it in someone's mailbox. Maybe he'll lead you to give it to someone that you run into. But just be open to that.I think it's a really special way to pass along resources to other people who really need it.
Paying for someone's coffee in the line behind you there, there are ways that you can give that it costs you like five or six bucks and it really might make a difference for that person. You never know. I heard about this one Starbucks that had someone paying for the person in the line behind them and they kept paying it forward, paying it forward, paying it forward. I think it didn't break until like 50 people or something. So just even using the generosity in your heart to spur on, like giving in others is a really cool thing to think about too.
While you're at a restaurant eating sometimes this holiday season, maybe think about just leaving an extra big tip for someone. I mean it could be instead of the typical like 20%, you could leave double that. You could leave 40%, you could, you could go all out and just leave a $50 bill or a $100 bill on the table if, if you're able to like it. It just is so amazing to see the gratitude that waiters and waitresses have and you know they're busting it. You know, they're working these holiday hours to make ends meet. And so it's just a really neat way to bless someone while you're at a restaurant.
Or another fun thing is to look around in the restaurant and maybe pick a family or someone that you see and tell your waiter that you wanna pay for their meal, but you don't want them to know who did it. And so you can just pick up their tab, pay for their meal and sneak out. And that's a really fun thing to do too.
There's so many opportunities around at different organizations that have giving trees where you know, they have a Christmas tree and different ornaments you can take and buy a toy for someone just participating in something like that is a wonderful thing to do at Christmas time.
Or if you haven't ever participated in Operation Christmas Child boxes with your kids, that is such a great thing to do with your kids. It's probably a little bit too late for that now in the season. But going ahead and putting it on your calendar for next year, it's amazing. The stories that come out of that ministry are so beautiful. I actually had the opportunity several years ago to go to Samaritan's Purse in Boone, North Carolina and actually help process those boxes and send them off. And that is a huge organization that really blesses children in really impoverished countries and it's really sweet. So if you've never done that, you definitely should look into it.
And then of course, giving financially is a wonderful thing to do. There's so many different things now when you're talking about tithe. You wanna give to your local church your tithe, but you can give an offering to your local church as well. Maybe there's different projects or different needs that your church has that you wanna support. Just giving an end of year gift to your church, to your body of Christ that you're a part of is a wonderful thing to do.
Or you can just listen to the Lord and say, “Holy Spirit reveal to me like a couple or a family that we wanna bless this year.” And just pray about the amount that you could give to them and just bless a couple or a family who needs it.
You could also give to ministries. This is a big time of year. Lot of ministries base their entire next year's budget on what comes in in December. And so it's a big fundraising time. It's a wonderful time to give to those ministries. So thinking about what ministries you wanna give to and why is a great thing to do. Just to take the time and do that before the end of the year.
Okay, I'm gonna close out before I share a list of resources of giving with you that have really inspired us and helped us on our journey and a list of ministries that we give to. In case you don't know where to start, I'm just gonna share two brief stories with you and how giving has impacted me.
When I was a little girl, my mom called a social worker and just asked if she knew of a family in need. And she told her of this family who is in a lot of poverty and did not have the means to have a Christmas. And there were two children and I will never forget going shopping for this family. My mom took me and my siblings so that we could go shopping for this family. And I'll never forget what it was like bringing presents into their home.
They lived very different from us and I didn't know what to say or how to act, but that was beside the point because when we dropped off those presents for them, they just cried. I mean, they just cried. I don't remember all the details, but I remember someone in their family was not able to read. I don't know if they were blind, I don't know if they were ever taught. I just know that we wanted to give every family that we brought things to a Bible and they mentioned that someone, that they were not able to read the Bible. And so we gave them the Bible on cassette tape back then it was cassette tape and they just cried like they could not understand why we did that for them.
And as a little girl, I'm so grateful for that experience that opened my eyes to people who live not that far from me, who are living really different from me, but also teaching me that, sharing our resources, sharing our gifts with them, just one simple phone call and one action that my mom took to bless another family has changed. It just changed me forever to always think about, we don't just need to be thinking about the things that we can get at Christmas or that we have and how we can enjoy them, but to also think there are people around us who are hurting and who don't get the same experiences and we get to be a part of blessing them and changing, even if it's just changing one holiday for them. We can, we can do that. So that forever left a mark on me.
Several years after that my parents went through a divorce and it was a really tough year the year that my parents went through a divorce because it wa it wasn't just that my parents split up at Christmas or you know, the first Christmas after that is always hard. But it's, it's that we went from being a whole family together one Christmas to the very next Christmas having just me and my mom in the house. And so my sister had gotten married, she moved down to Georgia. My dad was out of the house at that time and my brother had really fallen on hard times and was in like a rehab facility and it was just a very difficult Christmas for me.
I think I was 16 or 17 and I just had a really hard time. I was dreading, I think dread would be the right word. I was dreading Christmas, especially Christmas Eve, even more than Christmas Day because it was the time that my brother, my sister and I, every single Christmas Eve of my life, we had acted out the nativity scene and done Jesus's birthday cake together. And it was those traditions that you guys have heard, if you've listened to this whole series, you know that those traditions were just so near and dear to my heart. And so that Christmas was the first time I didn't have them to be there with me. And I didn't know what me and my mom were gonna do. And I just was pretty depressed. It was really, really sad.
Well, a friend knocked on my door on Christmas Eve. Gosh, I might cry talking about this. I still see her all the time. Her name's Molly. She's so sweet. Her kids are in school with my kids and she showed up and I kid you not, she had my brother's face printed out on like 8 by 10 taped to a like Popsicle stick and my sister's face printed out taped to a Popsicle stick so that she could put them in front of her face and pretend like she was my brother and sister and do all of the traditions with me.
Which oh my gosh is so sweet. This is like the perfect example of how you don't have to have, you don't have to give a lot of money. Like if you're just looking for a need of someone who's hurting, you can show up for them and give time and like creative ways to really bless them. But this has, this has impacted me forever.
And she showed up and I was laughing and crying when she showed up at my door. I was like, Molly, I cannot believe you did this. And she did all of the Christmas traditions with me. She had organized it all with my mom ahead of time and she just knew how sad I was 'cause she saw me walk through everything and being on the receiving end of such an incredibly thoughtful gift that did not cost her very much at all, but she did sacrifice her Christmas Eve with her family to do that, for me meant it's like my favorite Christmas present ever. Like it just has always left its mark on me.
But I share that just to say giving really is the most meaningful thing you can do at Christmas. It is the most joyful thing you can do. It will give you a greater sense of contentment and joy than any kind of planning, any kind of list making, any kind of, I don't know, anything that you can think of it will bring you back to really what Christmas is all about. Because the truth is, is that Jesus gave his life for us. I mean, Jesus stepped into our story. He wrote himself into our story. He came as a baby, as a frail human, and gave us the greatest gift of all, and was the most generous person that ever lived.
And this is the time of year that we get to celebrate him and celebrate that and acknowledge that and also live into that by being generous ourselves. So my encouragement is just look around in some way. How can you be generous? How can you give this Christmas season and Christmas seasons to come? How can you make that a huge part of your holiday experience every single year in your family? Because if you do, it's gonna be so fun and so fulfilling more than you could ever imagine.
All right, let me run through my list of resources for you. The book, The Blessed Life, will kind of blow your mind at all of the amazing stories of what it looks like to be a radical giver and how you really can't ever outgive God. He always will supply your needs.
God and Money, I've already mentioned that book, but it has great sound, biblical teaching on God and on money written by two Harvard students who I think that's right, who were interested on really what the Bible has to say about money. And they dug deep in all the scriptures and then wrote a book about it. It's really good.
Financial Peace University. It's an online course you can take or a course you can take at a local church in your community. It changed our lives and I love that Dave Ramsey always talks about live like no one else, so you can live and give like no one else later. And it really has giving as like a pillar, a cornerstone of what it's all about.
The National Christian Foundation is a wonderful place to, okay, this is where you can create your own, what is it called? A donor-advised fund, I believe. I'm gonna try to explain it in a nutshell. Something that it might apply to some of you, might not apply to others of you, but if you are looking to give larger financial gifts and you want to make sure that you have a place like a fund to kind of like, it's like a a fund that's marked for giving only. And then you can add to that fund all year round or you can write a check to that fund at the end of the year, but then you distribute that money from the fund to the organizations that you want to give to. And there's a lot of benefits of that. But I'm not gonna go into the details of it. You can just go to NationalChristianFoundation.org to find out about that.
The Journey of Generosity is a retreat that you can go on that teaches you all about giving. And the crazy thing is it doesn't cost you anything. It's wild. It is amazing. It changed our lives forever. You can go to generousgiving.org to learn more about that.
And then this is a simple resource, but to teach giving to your children, we really love the Giving Manger. It's a book and a tiny little wooden manger with straws in it and a baby Jesus. And we always read the book on the 1st of December and then our kids get a lot of ideas. Oh, and it has a stack of cards that have like ideas on being generous and giving throughout the holiday season. And you, every time a child does a generous act, you've put a straw in the manger. So the goal is to fill up the manger before you put baby Jesus in it on Christmas Eve. It's a really sweet tradition.
So those are some giving resources. If you are looking to just strengthen those giving muscles and give more this holiday season and in future Christmases to come, I definitely recommend that you add all of those to your list to dive into.
Well, that was a wrap for our holiday series. Thank you so much for joining me. I hope that it has been an encouragement to you as you look towards closing out this year.
Well, this was episode 217 of Work and Play with Nancy Ray. All of the resources I've mentioned today could be found in the show notes at nancyray.com/podcast/217 and you can find me at nancyray.com or @nancyray over on Instagram.
I'm gonna close with Proverbs 11:24–25, which says,
“One person gives freely, yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
Thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time.
