Does the Lord get a kick out of generosity? I think so…
Sports and I have a strange relationship. Through the first 12 years of my life, I was distant from any sport that didn’t involve a dirt bike. In 8th grade, my sudden growth spurt made me a candidate for basketball. I proved early that awkwardness and enthusiasm does not make an athlete. While it took a couple of years for the coaches to harness that energy into substantial playing time, I wound up more of a fouling machine than a scoring machine. By varsity, I helped lead the Felicity Cardinals to a 2-18 record.
As a not-so-involved sports fan, I determined that as a pastor, I would learn enough to interact with the sports fans in my congregation. The connectivity was important and worth my effort. It also yielded its own form of embarrassment. I once engaged in an Ohio State conversation with the question, “Is Woody the quarterback?” Ugh! And another time, “Is the Masters [Tournament] going to be in Kansas City next year?” Ugh! After enough dumb looks, I learned to check and recheck every sports-related fact prior to using it as a sermon illustration; I probably never fooled anybody.
However, if giving were a sport, then … the billiards giver gives strategic, precise and well-calculated gifts. The skeet giver responds very quickly to needs and hits the target with a bang. The soccer giver gets an enthusiastic celebration for a long-anticipated, momentum-shifting gift. The marathon steward gives very consistently and for the long run – and in the end is entirely spent. A baseball giver sometimes strikes out; sometimes hits a grand slam. The football giver gets a kick out of giving. And the Nascar giver goes round and round about giving, rarely taking time for a quick pit stop.
The Apostle Paul, a sports fan himself, told the Corinthian church about a particular kind of giver of which God is a fan! In fact, God loves the cheerful giver:
“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work,” 2 Corinthians 6-9.
The great apostle had other nice adjectives at his disposal, such as BIG giver, faithful giver, consistent giver, regular giver, or champion giver, but he chose the simple word “cheerful.” Cheerful, from the Greek, hilaros, means merry, happy, prompt, willing and even hilarious! Now there’s what giving and sports have in common. They are joyous, merry, often hilarious events. God loves the hilarious giver! I realize it’s a stretch of the imagination, but please allow me a little slack here – I have pastored many nice sports fans and personally witnessed them on the edge of their seats, physically moved to jump up and make some noise at a great moment in sports. The joy is universal, whether it is the Major Leagues or a parent watching the bat make contact with the T-ball.
Does the Lord get a kick out of our generosity? Imagine the Lord, along with some of the heavenly host, watching over the earthly kingdom, preferably on 60 inches of HD. There’s a young couple that just tithed their income for the first time and God is on the edge of his seat. There’s a retiring farmer who deposited life assets into a charitable gift annuity and the Lord stops clapping just long enough to do one of those ear-piercing whistles that requires two fingers. A family on a modest income, barely above poverty themselves, sacrifices their own needs in order to help a friend and the Lord gets so excited he spills his Diet Coke on some nearby saints.
If giving were a sport, if donors were athletes and if generosity were a game, the Lord would invite us to a game we can all play. God loves a cheerful giver. The cheerful giver learned to trust the Lord with the gift. The cheerful giver trusts the church with the gift. Let’s win one for the Lord!
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Mark E. Lail, director
Stewardship Ministries