By Chris Harris
A mentor of mine once said, if you want to know if God is a priority in your life, check your bank account.
That’s right. Your bank account.
Not how often you attend services. Not which committees we serve on. Not how many classes you sign up for or even how often you pray. Nope. For him, the ultimate barometer of one’s faith was our checkbook!
His point was to make real Jesus’ oft-quoted reminder from the Gospel of Matthew, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” For him, our giving was the real place where the rubber hits the road of our faith.
What would our money say about our love and trust in God?
This past Sunday, we heard the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector who wanted to realign his life by realigning how he uses his money. And it made me wonder: What might our own tax preparer say about how we have aligned our life? As he or she reviews our bank statements for the year and tabulates how we spend our money, what might they conclude about our faith? What would they say about our priorities? Does our giving reflect our standard of living? Or is God more of an afterthought? Has our faith penetrated our money life?
That’s why giving is at its heart a spiritual practice that can increase your faith. If you want to move your heart toward God, your giving can lead the way. Here are some things you might try, to help make your pledge move your heart toward God:
We invite everyone who considers Christ Church Cranbrook your spiritual home to consider making a pledge to support our mission and ministry in 2023. For more information or to make your pledge online, click here. For questions, please get in touch with Rev. Chris Harris at charris@christchurchcranbrook.org.