What you do if you had $300 million?

Some of you just laughed and thought to yourself, “That’s a silly question. I’ll never have that kind of money, so why waste my time thinking about it.” I get it…but let’s have some fun for a moment anyway and think about it.

What’s the first thing you’d do? Would you pay off your debts or buy something? Would you invest some of it? What’s the first thing you would buy?

I jokingly asked my wife that question and she laughed. She then said, “Buy a beach house.” She loves the beach and the sun. I’d rather have a place on a mountain lake. I suppose we could have both if we had $300 million.

Amazingly some people blow all their money. Mike Tyson made $300 million during his boxing career, then in 2003 filed for bankruptcy. His debts exceeded his assets by $20 million. I can’t imagine how you go broke when you have $300 million, but he did it…and so have others.

Monieca and I also discussed how much we would give to God’s work. I remember Pastor Rick Warren sharing that he prayed about his giving when his book “The Purpose Driven Life” became the bestselling nonfiction book of all time…excluding the Bible. He made over $30 million. What did God tell him? Keep 10% and give away 90%. That’s what he did.

Our level of generosity when we have a lot is not much different than it is when we have a little. In many ways giving is tied to who we are more than what we have.

Did giving enter your mind when thinking about what you would do if you had $300 million? If it did, how generous were you?

Jesus said if we are faithful in a little, we’ll be faithful in a lot. He added that if we are unfaithful in a little, we’ll also be unfaithful in a lot.

Again, who we are is more important that what we have when it comes to giving.

Pastor Steve Hogg