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Large Proportions
by
Major Stephen Court
“I will be actively involved, as l am able, in the life,
work, worship and witness of the corps, giving as large a
proportion of my income as possible to support its ministries
and the worldwide work of The Army.” (Articles of War)
1. What does ‘as I am able’ mean?
Now, 'as I am able' relates to physical conditions that
might keep you or me from fulfilling the rest of the promise.
But it is an unfortunate phrase because it opens up an excuse
for backsliders. They can just say, "I'm not able." 'Able' is
a tricky word in this context. It could mean, "I'm not able to
worship at holiness meetings because I take my boat out on
Sundays." But that abuses the intention of the declaration.
2. What about money?
We promise to fire as large a cartridge as possible. This
is Luke 6:38 (NLT) today:
Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in
full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more,
running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give
will determine the amount you get back.
How much do we all fail on this one? I mean, largest possible?
Government welfare in Australia provides $800 (or so) a month.
In some cases this includes all of expenses, from room to
board. That's $200/week. So, theoretically, a single person
making much more than that, say $1,000/week after taxes, could
fire a cartridge of $800/week. Nice. Granted, things get a
little more complicated when you add children to the equation.
Now, we’re not advocating that everyone lives on this much
money (although if anyone in the developing world gets hold of
this book I suspect they’d jump at $200/week). We’re just
throwing it out there because we promised to give, “as large a
proportion of (our) income as possible.” How much is possible?
You and God decide.
3. What is the argument against this proposition?
Again, you can interpret 'possible' softly like this- as
large as possible:
1. within my lifestyle;
2. and still go away on an annual cruise;
3. and keep my home entertainment system up-to-date;
4. and save up for my kid's college education;
5. and save a little crazy money;
6. and see at least a movie a month;
7. and stack up my retirement savings plans to the max;
8. and put aside some cash for the kids; etc.
4. Is that a legitimate perspective?
There is no way around this as a shockingly high
expectation. It is one that should challenge us daily as we
make financial decisions. The problem is that it probably
doesn't really challenge too many of us, very often. This is a
call to simplicity and kingdom investment. Not one or the
other. We don't live simply and give cash to lost pets or
whale saving ventures. We live simply and invest the cash into
the Kingdom. Neither do we make our cash and fire our tenth.
That's not even close to what is happening here. No. Most of
us will be positioned to follow Wesley's advice: Make all you
can; save all you can; give all you have.[i]
Questions
What is most offensive about this section?
When were you last challenged as to the size of your
cartridge? Discuss.
What about that person from the developing world getting his
or her hands on this article? What claim has s/he on our
understanding of the words ‘able’ and ‘possible’?
[i] We’re aware that the third point ended, ‘give all you can’
but we’ve read that when he actually preached it, Wesley got
so stirred up he went for everything, thus, ‘all you have’.
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