Faith and stewardship are two sides of the same coin. On one hand, we’re responsible for the resources God gives us, and on the other, everything we do is ultimately in God’s hands. Living the Christian life well means holding these two things, stewardship and faith, in tension at the same time. We do everything we can to make plans and provisions, but at a point, it’s a matter of trusting God. The trouble today is that western culture promotes stewardship but does less to encourage acts of faith when it comes to finances. As Christians, our responsibility in any culture is to go back to the principles of Scripture and reexamine what they mean for how we live.

Jesus’ statement that it’s hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven came from the truth that the rich trust in their resources more easily than they trust in God (Matt 19:24). The rich young ruler asked Jesus what he must do to be saved, and Jesus told him to give everything he had to the poor. The rich man stumbled at the point when he was asked to abandon his resources and face Jesus with nothing. This is a stumbling block in our world today as well. We are the rich, and our culture teaches us to think in terms of quantifiable means at the expense of walking by faith.

“First fruits” is a well-known financial principle established in the Old Testament—that the first fruits of our labor go to the Lord, and we live on the balance (Exod 23). Our modern approach looks more like giving to ministry if we have money left. We’ve got it backwards, and that’s a reflection of how US culture has influenced Christianity. We teach faith in the church, but in many ways, we often don’t live it out. We set up budgets and make ministry decisions based on what we see. Walking by faith, on the other hand, involves a little less walking by sight. What if instead, we said, “If God wants to do this, we’re going to do it”—how would things change?

So many of our C2M projects have started exactly like this. The answer to “Do you have the money?” might have been no, but we stepped out in faith anyway, trusting that God would provide. Recently, Pastor Poyis said he needed funds to buy books and materials to start school again with the kids. We sent the money right away even though the budget didn’t necessarily have a buffer. However, the next morning we were on the phone with a supporter who asked about our needs, and we told him about the school expense. Come to find out that the day before, he had mailed a check for more than two times what we had just sent Poyis. If ministry has taught us anything, it’s that God provides.

Biblical discernment, in finances and every other area of life, involves putting our beliefs and priorities in the right order. God is our provider, and that truth has the power to transform our work, our daily living, and our efforts in ministry.

To learn how you can be praying with us for the ministry in Haiti, visit Prayer Requests.