One day, about 10 years into my career, I had this nagging thought in the back of my mind.
Does fundraising bring a smile to the face of God?
I had become accustomed to getting an occasional pushback from donors, heads of organizations, and other friends in Christian fundraising. They would say, “God will provide for you without having to ask for the money.”
So naturally, this begged the question, is what I’m doing pleasing to God? Being theologically trained, I began pouring over Scripture, searching for what the Bible had to say about the topic of fundraising.
And it had a lot to say. No doubt, money is a powerful thing!
Money means control, from the poorest person who is trying to put food on the table to the wealthiest, consumed with their wealth and possessions. Every life is controlled by money in some capacity, including yours.
In fact, this topic is so important that Jesus spoke more about money than about heaven and hell combined!
And that’s simply because our relationship to money is at the core of our relationship with God. It’s the only thing Jesus ever connects to our heart.
In fact, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks directly to this issue.
He says, “Stop storing up for yourselves treasure on earth, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19). Then he adds, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (v. 21).
And that’s the issue. It’s either going to be God… or money.
Again in verse 24, Jesus reiterates, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other. Or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Now if we’re honest, as Christians, we like to keep a foot in both worlds. We really don’t worship money and we’re committed to God, but we still allow our money to control us in a way that it shouldn’t.
The issue is that our natural inclination is to trust our money more than God.
If you had a million dollars in the bank ten minutes from now, would you feel more secure? I think you would. I think I would, too.
And this is why I believe money is one of Satan’s key lines of attack in the spiritual battle. He knows that if he can get us to trust our money more than God, we’re of no use to the Kingdom.
In his book Waking the Dead John Eldredge says this:
“The world in which we live is a combat zone, a violent clash of kingdoms, a bitter struggle unto the death. You were born into a world at war and you will live all your days in the midst of a great battle involving all the forces of heaven and hell and played out here on earth. Until we come to terms with war as a context of our days, we will not understand life.”
For many, that’s certainly what 2020 has revealed. For many, they “see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom.” And in many ways – and for many people – it feels like their lives have been thrust into “utter darkness.”
This is our reality. Satan is moving aggressively against God’s Kingdom. So what will we do about it?
We can start by taking practical steps to trust our God more than we trust our wallets.
More Insights from Dunham+Company: “If God Will Provide, Why Do We Have to Ask for Money?“