I
recommend Randy Alcorn's The Treasure Principle for
anyone who is wondering why Christians give. More generally, anyone
who wonders how and why being a Christian would make a difference in
one's everyday life would benefit from this book. Among other books
on this topic, this book stands out because it is concise and to the
point (the main text is only 94 short pages with one-sentence
summaries). Alcorn carefully shows that what he says has a solid
Biblical foundation. He gives good illustrations so that readers will
remember his main ideas, and he keeps his discussion practical, not
just ideal.
The Treasure
Principle's main topic is
heavenly (as opposed to earthly) treasures, and its key text is Matt.6:19-21. Alcorn
rubs the reader's nose in the fact that we cannot “take it with
us;” all of our earthly possessions will eventually end up in the
junkyard, but we can
convert our earthly resources
into heavenly treasures. Naturally, the next question is: What are
“heavenly treasures”? Alcorn depicts these as what accrues when
we give to further God's purposes, for example, when we have
compassion on those who are in need or when we use our resources to
affect people's souls (e.g., evangelization). For we are stewards of
God's resources, which means our job is to use God's resources as He
would like. God notices our actions and will reward us in heaven for
our faithful stewardship; hence we call them “heavenly treasures”
because they are rewards we get in heaven.
What
Christian stewardship looks like depends on what kind of person one
sees Jesus Christ as. Alcorn reminds us that Jesus has been gracious
to us; He is good, and we can trust Him. Our generosity is a response
to God's generosity to us; when Jesus calls Christians to be
generous, He is not asking us to do anything He has not already done.
Even gifts that are real sacrifices to us are imitations of His
giving. Alcorn says that when God gives people more than they need,
it is so that they can have more joy in giving, not so that they can
spend more on themselves. Alcorn reminds us that having a life that
is focused on possessions – a materialistic life – is really not
joyful; rather, “Giving is the only antidote to materialism.”
Alcorn
challenges his readers to see their resources (especially money) with
the eyes of faith – a faith that recognizes that Jesus is the
sovereign God over the whole world and can provide for His followers,
which means Christians do not have to hoard earthly treasures. I was
most challenged by Alcorn's exhortations to plan to give more than we
think we can (in chapter 5) and to talk more about specific givers
and giving projects in church (in chapter 6; his suggestions sounded
almost competitive to me). I appreciate Alcorn's determination to
stick closely to God's Word and how he lays out the principles of
giving without sounding like one-size-fits-all; he acknowledges that
different people do have different needs and, thus, different levels
of what is “excess,” without toning down his challenge to most
American Christians. If you want to read one Christian book about how
and why to give, read this one.
Finally,
for those who are curious right this minute: take a good look at
Eternal Perspective Ministries, Randy
Alcorn's website, for more from this author, or search for this book
at Multnomah's website.