Money and Giving

Your question about whether Christians should donate to political campaigns is an interesting one. I don’t think there’s a clear “yes” or “no” answer, as this seems to come down to wisdom and asking the Lord for direction.

The hosts of the Generous Business Owner podcast talk with Randy Alcorn about his life, exploring his walk with Christ. They discuss the role giving has played in Randy’s faith, as well as the importance of giving for all believers. 

Deep down, we all know we can spend every last cent on ourselves and still end up miserable. What Jesus calls us to do is far more radical and satisfying: love others by giving away our money and time. That sounds like loss, not gain, right? Yet in God’s economy, that’s exactly how we expand and enhance our own lives.

EPM does believe God loves cheerful givers (2 Corinthians 9:7) and does provide for givers so that we can be generous and glorify Him (2 Corinthians 9:8, 11). However, we want to be careful not to encourage anyone to believe that giving in any way obligates God to bless us financially with a certain amount or lifestyle in return. 

As is the case with fire, so it is with money: the greater a thing’s potential for good when used rightly, the greater its potential for harm when used wrongly. And money has great potential.

Randy spoke to a gathering of illumiNations partners (Bible translation and resource partners working together to eradicate Bible poverty in this generation). He shared about the gift of generous giving, as well as Revelation 5:9 and the hope of God’s Word reaching people of every tribe and language and nation.

Despite both personal experiences and studies indicating money alone doesn’t bring the good life, countless people think and live and make choices as if it does.

Paul made it clear that it’s possible to give sacrificially without being motivated by love: “If I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3, CSB). That means it’s not just generosity that’s the good life; it’s generosity that flows out of love.

In this video clip from an event Randy Alcorn and George Verwer did together in 2013, George shares about needs around the world, and passionately implores God’s people to get a vision for giving to get the gospel to the unreached.