As most of you probably know, if you filed your taxes this year, you will be getting a check in the mail from the federal government based upon your status in life (single, married, w/kids) of $600 or more. Sunday afternoon I was reading a church-planting message board where a friend, who is also a pastor, mentioned he was going to challenge the people in his church to use their checks to serve the poor and needy of their community (i.e. social justice) instead of being consumers and spending it on themselves. Today, John Piper has written a post on his blog about using your stimulus check to “make much of Christ” by giving it or using it to help some person or ministry. There has been quite a bit of conversation on this topic over at Justin Taylor’s blog as well. My personal favorite of all the posts on this topic though has been financial guru Dave Ramsey.
Perhaps Piper, my friend and others who are advocating giving our checks away are all presupposing that we are already free of debt and would only be spending our checks on our own selfish desires. If that’s the case then it is more blessed to give than to receive. BUT, if in fact we are not already debt free, the longer we remain in debt, the longer we postpone being able to financially support ongoing expressions of generous giving. The sooner we can pay off debt, the sooner we have that much more income available to give to ministries and others in need regularly and not just the next time there’s an economic stimulus check or some other type of windfall. These are good ideas and an area where we all need to be challenged.
