Let's Talk about Your Money-Pt2
The Next Step: What a Broken Jar of Perfume Teaches Us About Generosity
There is a Chinese proverb that says the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And yet so many of us stand at the trailhead, paralyzed, waiting for a full map of the terrain before we dare move. We want to see the entire staircase before we commit to the climb. But as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, you do not need to see the whole staircase. You only need to take the first step in front of you.
This is especially true when it comes to faith and finances.
Psalm 119:105 describes God's word as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Not a floodlight. Not a searchlight. A lamp. The kind you carry close, the kind that only illuminates the ground just ahead of you. God rarely shows us the whole journey at once. He shows us the next step. And then the next. And then the next after that.
So what does that next step look like when it comes to our money?
Three Foundations You Cannot Skip
Before we can talk about next steps, there are three bedrock truths that Scripture returns to again and again when it comes to money and possessions.
First, God owns everything. Psalm 24 declares that the earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord. He created the raw materials. He gave human beings the wisdom and intelligence to build, to develop, to innovate. Whatever we hold in our hands, whatever sits in our bank accounts, it ultimately traces back to Him.
Second, we are managers, not owners. The word for this is stewardship, and it simply means using the wealth of the Master according to the will of the Master. We have been entrusted with resources, and our role is to manage them in a way that honors the One who owns them.
Third, God's people are generous. This thread runs from one end of Scripture to the other. Generosity is not a personality trait reserved for a certain kind of person. It is a defining characteristic of anyone who follows God.
With those three truths as a foundation, there is a story in John 12 that brings all of it to life.
A Jar Worth a Year's Wages
Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrives in Bethany, a small village on the slope of the Mount of Olives. The name Bethany itself means "house of the poor," and the community was known as a place where generous people cared for those who had nothing. Jesus reclines at a dinner table with his close friends, including Lazarus, the man he had raised from the dead.
Then Mary enters.
She is carrying an alabaster jar filled with pure nard, an extraordinarily rare and expensive perfume. Before anyone can react, she breaks it open and begins pouring it over the feet of Jesus. The fragrance is so powerful that it fills the entire house. Then she lets her hair down, something considered unconventional in that culture, and uses it to wipe his feet. It is an act of complete, unhidden, unapologetic devotion.
The room is stunned.
Judas speaks up quickly. He knows exactly what that jar is worth, an entire year's wages, and he is outraged. Why was this not sold and the money given to the poor? Scripture quietly notes that his concern was not actually for the poor. He was the group's treasurer and had been helping himself to the funds. His objection was financial, not compassionate.
Jesus silences him. Leave her alone, he says. She has done a beautiful thing.
And then in Mark 14:9, Jesus makes a remarkable statement. He says that wherever the good news is proclaimed throughout the entire world, what this woman has done will be told in memory of her. More than two thousand years later, that promise holds. We are still talking about Mary's gift.
Four Things Mary's Generosity Reveals
1.) Her act was not random or impulsive. It was a portrait of what genuine generosity looks like, and it carries four qualities worth holding onto.
2.) Her gift was precious to her. This was not spare change. It was worth everything. But Jesus was worth more.
3.) Her gift was pleasant to others. She gave it, but everyone in the room experienced it. The fragrance filled the space. Generosity has a way of doing that. It blesses the giver, but it never stays contained.
4.) Her gift was perplexing to some. Judas did not understand it, and there will always be voices that question extravagant generosity. Not everyone will get it.
Her gift was pleasing to Jesus. And in the end, that was the only voice that mattered.
Deciding, Not Just Feeling
Second Corinthians 9:7 offers a critical instruction: you must decide in your heart how much to give, not reluctantly or under pressure, because God loves a cheerful giver. The key word is decide. This is not about following your feelings on any given Sunday. It is about steering your heart with intention. You are the one in the driver's seat. You make the decision.
For some, the next step is giving for the very first time, a small and courageous act of trust. For others, it is moving from occasional giving to consistent, intentional giving. For others still, it is committing to a tithe, the first ten percent of whatever comes in, not the last. And for some, the next step is becoming an extravagant giver, someone whose generosity shapes the people around them and echoes beyond their own lifetime.
Wherever you are, there is a next step. You do not need to see the whole staircase.
God owns everything. We are managers. His people are generous.
Do not follow your heart. Steer it. Decide. And take the next step.
There is a Chinese proverb that says the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And yet so many of us stand at the trailhead, paralyzed, waiting for a full map of the terrain before we dare move. We want to see the entire staircase before we commit to the climb. But as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, you do not need to see the whole staircase. You only need to take the first step in front of you.
This is especially true when it comes to faith and finances.
Psalm 119:105 describes God's word as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Not a floodlight. Not a searchlight. A lamp. The kind you carry close, the kind that only illuminates the ground just ahead of you. God rarely shows us the whole journey at once. He shows us the next step. And then the next. And then the next after that.
So what does that next step look like when it comes to our money?
Three Foundations You Cannot Skip
Before we can talk about next steps, there are three bedrock truths that Scripture returns to again and again when it comes to money and possessions.
First, God owns everything. Psalm 24 declares that the earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord. He created the raw materials. He gave human beings the wisdom and intelligence to build, to develop, to innovate. Whatever we hold in our hands, whatever sits in our bank accounts, it ultimately traces back to Him.
Second, we are managers, not owners. The word for this is stewardship, and it simply means using the wealth of the Master according to the will of the Master. We have been entrusted with resources, and our role is to manage them in a way that honors the One who owns them.
Third, God's people are generous. This thread runs from one end of Scripture to the other. Generosity is not a personality trait reserved for a certain kind of person. It is a defining characteristic of anyone who follows God.
With those three truths as a foundation, there is a story in John 12 that brings all of it to life.
A Jar Worth a Year's Wages
Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrives in Bethany, a small village on the slope of the Mount of Olives. The name Bethany itself means "house of the poor," and the community was known as a place where generous people cared for those who had nothing. Jesus reclines at a dinner table with his close friends, including Lazarus, the man he had raised from the dead.
Then Mary enters.
She is carrying an alabaster jar filled with pure nard, an extraordinarily rare and expensive perfume. Before anyone can react, she breaks it open and begins pouring it over the feet of Jesus. The fragrance is so powerful that it fills the entire house. Then she lets her hair down, something considered unconventional in that culture, and uses it to wipe his feet. It is an act of complete, unhidden, unapologetic devotion.
The room is stunned.
Judas speaks up quickly. He knows exactly what that jar is worth, an entire year's wages, and he is outraged. Why was this not sold and the money given to the poor? Scripture quietly notes that his concern was not actually for the poor. He was the group's treasurer and had been helping himself to the funds. His objection was financial, not compassionate.
Jesus silences him. Leave her alone, he says. She has done a beautiful thing.
And then in Mark 14:9, Jesus makes a remarkable statement. He says that wherever the good news is proclaimed throughout the entire world, what this woman has done will be told in memory of her. More than two thousand years later, that promise holds. We are still talking about Mary's gift.
Four Things Mary's Generosity Reveals
1.) Her act was not random or impulsive. It was a portrait of what genuine generosity looks like, and it carries four qualities worth holding onto.
2.) Her gift was precious to her. This was not spare change. It was worth everything. But Jesus was worth more.
3.) Her gift was pleasant to others. She gave it, but everyone in the room experienced it. The fragrance filled the space. Generosity has a way of doing that. It blesses the giver, but it never stays contained.
4.) Her gift was perplexing to some. Judas did not understand it, and there will always be voices that question extravagant generosity. Not everyone will get it.
Her gift was pleasing to Jesus. And in the end, that was the only voice that mattered.
Deciding, Not Just Feeling
Second Corinthians 9:7 offers a critical instruction: you must decide in your heart how much to give, not reluctantly or under pressure, because God loves a cheerful giver. The key word is decide. This is not about following your feelings on any given Sunday. It is about steering your heart with intention. You are the one in the driver's seat. You make the decision.
For some, the next step is giving for the very first time, a small and courageous act of trust. For others, it is moving from occasional giving to consistent, intentional giving. For others still, it is committing to a tithe, the first ten percent of whatever comes in, not the last. And for some, the next step is becoming an extravagant giver, someone whose generosity shapes the people around them and echoes beyond their own lifetime.
Wherever you are, there is a next step. You do not need to see the whole staircase.
God owns everything. We are managers. His people are generous.
Do not follow your heart. Steer it. Decide. And take the next step.
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