Funding for results
As the London 2012 Olympics unfolded, I was amazed to see the success of Team GB in winning medals (65 in total including 29 gold). I remember 1996, at the Atlanta Olympics, when Team GB won a total of 15 medals with only one gold (Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent for rowing). In 1997, the National Lottery started to provide funding for UK Sport, and this sustained funding is one of the reasons for the transformation in performance and results.
In the same way the life of the disciple can be transformed by adequate funding – some are blessed with riches and are called to be funders, others are in the position of requiring to be funded to carry out the work of the disciple. Paul is perhaps the greatest "missionary disciple" in the Bible – here is what he says:
Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: "The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little." 2 Corinthians 8: 10b-15 [NIV]
Am I doing my part to fund the great commission?
Have I reviewed my tithe in the light of my earnings recently?
Am I one who receives funding from others? Is that working out for me?
Lord, take away any selfishness in my attitude to my resources, which come from you. Show me how to sow generously, that I may also reap generously. Amen.
Dave MacLellan
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