TOGETHER: Gratitude to God prompts giving

Posted: 11/30/07

TOGETHER:
Gratitude to God prompts giving

In this wonderful time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, our hearts are filled with gratitude for our families and friends, for our churches and the gospel, for our work and time to rest, for our country and our world.

Counting your blessings always is a good thing to do.

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

In my life, this has been the time that I have thought more carefully about giving than at any other time of the year. Perhaps you are the same way. I have no doubt that much of that has to do with Christmas and the giving of gifts to family and friends. But it also has to do with giving mission offerings so that the “best gift I give is to Jesus.” After all, it is his birthday that I celebrate. So making sure the most expensive gift I give is to advance his name and the good news of the Redeemer’s kingdom always has seemed to me to be the right thing to do.

The best motivation for giving always is gratitude. We give because God first gave to us. He gave us life and bountiful provisions in creation. He has given us new life and a sense of significance in salvation. We celebrate creation and redemption, earth and heaven, new life now and eternally. We marvel at the fullness and richness of God’s bountiful love. We find courage to press on in life’s most difficult trials. And we have learned in years of giving that we never have out-given God.

Our people give so generously. One dear family has for some years given several thousand dollars through the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation to distribute among Texas Baptist camps because they rejoice in how many children and young people make life-changing decisions in the camp services each year.

Money from the Berry Fund for missions blesses struggling Baptists around the world in places such as Laos, Guatemala, Spain, Liberia and the northeastern United States.

Texas Baptists have sent a giant generator to the Nicaraguan Baptist Hospital in Managua. That gift will help save lives and lead many to our Lord.

I have in my files remarkable stories and expressions of gratitude from the disaster areas of South Texas and New Orleans. Your generosity when Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf regions continues to make a difference in lives.

I have a letter from the president of the Baptist seminary in Ogbomoso, Nigeria, thanking our Texas Baptist partnership missions leaders and the leaders of several of our Baptist schools for hosting three Nigerian teachers who came to visit us, share their lives and carry back to their classrooms the experience of spending three weeks in Texas.

With all the opportunities to give through your church and to many of our Baptist institutions, I encourage you to be generous in your support. If you would like to help our BGCT work in a specific area, you can contact Bill Arnold at the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation by calling (800) 558-8263. He can help you make sure your gift is used according to your wishes in making a difference for Christ in the world.

We are loved.

Charles Wade is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.