Giving Tuesday – Going All In

Giving Tuesday – Going All In
“Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few.” -2 Kings 4:3

 Giving Tuesday is celebrated on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving as a way to visibly demonstrate our thankfulness by giving back to charities, non-profits, and churches. This giving Tuesday at Christ Presbyterian, we’re asking you to consider what you’ll give to the mission and ministry of CPC in 2025.

If you’re not familiar with the story, I’d encourage you to stop reading this article for a moment and read 2 Kings 4:1-7. The sequence of events in this story is fascinating to me. First, there is a crisis – a woman has lost her husband and her two sons are going to be taken to pay off the family’s debt. Second, the woman goes to God to ask for help. Third, God asks her to consider what resources she has to help herself. Fourth, God asks the woman to step out in faith. Fifth, God pours out his blessing on the woman and saves her from the crisis.

As we begin to consider what God is calling us to give to his church next year, we find ourselves in steps three and four of this sequence.

The widow in 2 Kings thought she was totally destitute and devoid of all resources. But she wasn’t. God showed her that she had a little bit of oil – and that was more than enough for him to work with. What resources has God blessed you with? It doesn’t matter if you think they’re meager. God is able to multiply our resources and do a great deal with very little. This Giving Tuesday, may I encourage you to make a list of three resources God has blessed you with – no matter how small? Then present that list to God and ask him to make use of what you have to bless the work of his kingdom.

Before God pours out blessing on the woman in 2 Kings, he asks her to step out in faith. She is to go and collect empty jars from her neighbors. God specifically instructs her not to collect too few. She must prepare for God’s blessing before she receives God’s blessing. We might wish the order was reversed – that God would bless us first and then we could act based on what he gave. But in God’s economy, it works the other way around. This Giving Tuesday, where is God asking you to step out in faith? Where can you prepare for God’s blessing that you might receive it in faith?

The elders at CPC have decided to step out in faith in 2025 and trust God to provide. Will you come alongside us by giving generously and going all in on the work of God’s kingdom in this place?

Your Pastor and Friend,
John Knox Foster