Glimpsing the Eternal
Author: Stan Guthrie
May 22, 2025
Why is giving generously sometimes so hard? For me, it boils down to three things:
- A persistent belief that my money and possessions are really my own.
- A nagging fear that God will let me down.
- An overemphasis on this life and an underemphasis on the next.
Put another way, No. 1 boils down to coveting; No. 2 to a lack of faith; No. 3 to a lack of vision. I have discovered that each one is dead wrong. Let me explain.
When it comes to the belief that what’s mine is mine, I need not only to acknowledge that this idea is more American than biblical, but that it has wrapped itself around my soul like a python intent on squeezing the spiritual life out of me.
Coveting—feeling inordinate desire for what belongs to someone else—is a sin. In the Decalogue, we are commanded, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17). In our social media and consumer-focused culture, however, we are conditioned to covet our neighbor’s car, vacation, redone kitchen, or house. But it is still wrong.
Now think how much greater the offense is when we covet not what belongs to our neighbor, but to God. Everything belongs to Him. “For every beast of the forest is mine,” Psalm 50:10 reminds us, “the cattle on a thousand hills.”
And yet, even though all belongs to Him, He is not a stingy miser but a generous Father, “who richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). We are to gratefully set our hopes on the One who owns it all, trusting Him to provide.
This brings us to my second misperception—a fear that if I give God too much, my family will suffer. It’s true that if I regularly and sacrificially give to the King, my own little plot of ground may not be as spacious as it might have been.
But in my limited experience, I haven’t needed to worry about the Lord’s provision. Since I lost my last full-time job 16 years ago, God has provided us with more earthly treasure than we ever thought possible. Slowly, I am seeing that money is no problem for Him, and my giving is starting to reflect this truth, although I still have a lot of room for improvement.
As I grow in faith, I also grow in vision, my third area of challenge. I am starting to see beyond the world’s temporary and limited horizon and am catching glimpses of the eternal, unshakable kingdom of God. As our loving Lord kindly pointed out to those of us tempted to cling to our earthly treasure as to an anvil in the ocean:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
Do I believe this? Really believe this? May the Spirit increasingly fill my heart each day to say “Yes!”
How about you?
Stan Guthrie is Minister of Communications for New Covenant Church in Naperville, Illinois.
Photo by Connor Hall on Unsplash.
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