Throughout these passages, we've seen God's workmanship in creation, provision for the Israelite nation, and most importantly, the gift of His son, Jesus. And today, we would like to take a moment to reflect upon Psalm 24, a Psalm of David that focuses on stewardship and generosity. 

"The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it."

-Psalm 24:1 

At first glance, you might be tempted to skim over this verse. Most of us have read more than once that God created the heavens and the earth. But if you really take a moment to stop and reflect upon the deeper meaning, do your actions reaffirm that the earth is the Lord's ... everything in it? 

In this Psalm, David proclaims that only God, the King of Glory, holds possession over the things of this earth. And he makes it clear that from the smallest creature to the greatest city on earth – it's all His. We are merely stewards of what he has blessed us with. 

First of all, how awe-inspiring is it that the God of all creation would entrust us with His precious creation. When you realize the magnitude of what we've been given, it's easy to respond in gratitude and praise. But living in a society that tells us that we are in control over our health, salaries, careers, and future, it's easy to forget that we are stewards and not owners.

It's important that we live in a manner that reflects God's heart, and not our own. Our hearts naturally gravitate towards greed, pride, and selfish behaviors that manifest themselves in ungodly ways. But His heart is that of generosity. God freely gave us His all, His everything. That's what He expects of us in return – our everything. 

In your heart, do you believe that your money, loved ones, and other earthly possessions are the Lord's and not your own? The truth is, that we will never experience true joy, peace, and freedom in Christ until we surrender and release our earthly possession to the Creator of it all. Only then will we truly be able to live out our calling of a generous life. 

A prayer for today: 

Lord, give me the strength to always replace my urge to be prideful and greedy with expressions of praise and gratefulness for all you have provided. Thank You Lord for being so generous and faithful to your children. Lord, create a pure and generous heart in me today!

Rachel Moye serves as the Communications Specialist at NCF. She lives in Atlanta and loves sharing the joy and hope found in living generously. 

An outpouring of charitable giving is redefining generosity

• In January 2004, Joan Kroc, the widow of hamburger king Ray Kroc, bequeathed $1.5 billion to The Salvation Army to build and operate more than two dozen community centers throughout the country.
  
  
• In June 2006, Warren Buffett, the world's second wealthiest man, announced he would give away 85 percent of his wealth to five foundations, a cumulative gift estimated to be worth more than $43 billion. That same year, 21 U.S. donors made charitable gifts of $100 million or more. 
  
  
• China-born Li Ka Shing, Asia's wealthiest businessman, announced in March 2007 he will contribute $100 million to the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in the National University of Singapore.
  
  
• All U.S. donors contributed slightly more than $295 billion in 2006, up from $283 billion in 2005 (to comprehend that amount of money, imagine receiving a check for $808 million every day for an entire year).
  
  
• The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability reported that donations to its 1,200 members increased to $8.6 billion, a rise of nearly 23 percent. Out of the one million-plus registered tax-exempt charities, more than 90 Christian organizations, which raised a minimum of $37 million in private support, made The Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list of 400 largest U.S. nonprofits.

Dawn has broken on a new golden age of giving

Whether it's a legion of volunteers rebuilding houses for victims of Hurricane Katrina, or the Tata family of India, which donates between 8 to 14 percent of the annual net profits from its holding company, Tata Sons Ltd., to a variety of causes, including science, medicine, social services, rural welfare, performing arts, education, and the needs of children, an outpouring of charitable giving is redefining generosity.

What kind of money are we talking about? Where is it coming from? And what might such emerging generosity mean to grateful recipients and equally deserving Christian ministries, large and small, hoping to match their passion and purpose with donors?

 >> Read the full blog on Christian Leadership Alliance's website

Thanks to your unprecedented generosity, we saw this milestone come to pass in 2011, as well as many others that surpassed what we could have ever hoped or imagined. Here are some highlights: 

• Contributions from givers in 2011 grew 9% over 2010 for a total of $660 million.
  
  
• We distributed $505 million in grants at the recommendation of the givers we serve, up 29% compared to the previous year.
  
  
• Cash, stock, and asset-based (businesses, real estate, etc.) contributions were up 2%, 6%, and 28% respectively in 2011.
  

Perhaps most remarkable is the speed at which these milestones are occurring. Consider the chart to the right. In our first decade, $12 million in grants went to charities. In our second, $425 million left our doors. And in our third, that number reached $2.6 billion!  

Clearly, the momentum of the generosity movement is building, and the work of God’s Kingdom is gaining ground. 

Through your faithful giving, more people are hearing the Good News of the Gospel, more hungry are receiving food, more hurting are being healed, more marriages are growing stronger, more hope is surfacing in the hopeless ... all in the name of Jesus, all for His glory. 

God is on the move in the hearts of our givers like you, and we’re privileged that you’re part of this journey. Here’s to another record year of unprecedented generosity! 

The process of developing your Philosophy involves clarifying your family’s knowledge and core beliefs about money, and expressing and examining them to bring them into alignment with the truth of God’s Word.

So in order to help your family develop your Family Stewardship Philosophy, we've provided a three-step process of clarification, communication, and commitment to help your family create a lasting legacy that is passed on to your family and future generations.

Step One: Clarification

Before you can communicate what you believe to others, you need to have a clear understanding of what you actually believe yourself. Thus, developing a Family Stewardship Philosophy begins by examining and clarifying your core beliefs, feelings, and attitudes about wealth in light of Scripture.

• Write it out – It's often helpful to write out your thoughts in a notebook or journal. Record anything significant that God brings to mind. What did your parents teach you about money? What were your feelings about wealth growing up? Have your beliefs changed over time? Do you remember any people, stories, or events that had an impact on your view of money?
  
  
• Develop a mission statement – You may also want to draft one or more statements that express your core beliefs and values, as well as the vision, mission and purpose God has given you for your family’s wealth. This serves as a means of documenting your wealth-related goals and objectives, which paves the way for tangible discussion and interaction with your family.

Step Two: Communication

As a steward, rather than an owner, your role in communicating is a humble one. Any family gathering to discuss finances is essentially a manager’s meeting. As the leader of your home, your job is to report on the owner’s wishes as you understand them, not your own. So you’ll really want to be listening to what other family members have to say as well.

• Foster communication, promote sharing – As you work through this communication step or the next one, you’ll likely find yourself going back to earlier steps for further clarification. And you'll find yourself strengthening relationships with the ones you love.
  
  
• Invite healthy conflict – Some families do not relish the thought of open dialogue about money for fear of conflict. But the potential for conflict is not reason enough to abandon this important task. In fact, conflict is often God’s way of getting our attention, bringing accountability, and correcting flawed perspectives. Often, the help of one or more strategic financial advisors is invaluable for resolving potential conflicts and keeping your discussion on track.

Step Three: Commitment

The true test of the work you put into the first two steps is what you actually do about it.

• Demonstrate your commitment – Printing out new confessions of faith or purpose statements is not enough. You need to demonstrate your commitment to God and your family by stepping out in faith and putting your beliefs into practice through giving. When your words and actions match, your legacy is both taught and “caught.”
  
  
• Commitment is the key – Without it, your beliefs are an empty promise that could drive your family apart. With it, your Family Stewardship Philosophy will become a source of wisdom and inspiration that brings your family closer to each other and to God for generations to come.
  
  

>> Click here for more family giving tools from our resource guide, The Generous Family 

Photo credit: Lane Geurkink

Generous is from the root word "genus," which is a reference to birth, blood, or family. It's a quality that reflects a condition of the heart, mind, and soul. Classically, it was defined as nobleness of soul.

I like that: nobleness of soul. We don’t talk like that anymore, but perhaps we should. What does it means to live a noble life? It speaks of something grand, like knights and castles, codes, and creeds. It sounds like something pure.

What gets in the way of living a noble life? So often it seems that I have this need to justify myself. If I sense wrong-doing to myself, a slight, a misdeed, I withhold my good as justification. I want to be made right. I demand justice. Do you know what I’m saying here?

How misguided! How desperate I am to understand real justification! Paul understood this idea. In Romans 5:18, he wrote: "Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people." 

Only the sacrifice of Christ provides the opportunity for justification. I cannot justify myself. So in my day-to-day attempts to justify myself I actually become an inhibitor to the grace of God multiplying in and around me. Ouch.

Lord, teach me this thing called the Gospel, the good news of Christ, that tells us in Romans 5.15, “ … how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!” 

Bill High is the president of our National Christian Foundation Heartland (Kansas City) office.

We are also grateful to have hit a new milestone in granting late last year as we distributed our 3 billionth grant dollar since our inception in 1982.

Once again, God has done wonders beyond what we could ever hope or imagine. As we count these dollars, we're excited to help make them count for His Kingdom. And most importantly, we're counting our blessings as we continue this great journey of giving with you.

Photo credit: Samaritan's Purse
Numbers are pre-audit estimates

Answering questions like these can make you feel like you’re part of a Zig Ziglar seminar for success in selling vacuum cleaners or Cadillacs. And for some of us, just the year “2013” sounds like the name of some futuristic novel. But of course it isn’t. The year 2013 is 12 short months from now … just the blink of an eye.

Did you know it takes the brain 20 minutes to register the fact that the stomach is full? Clearly most of us could use – and God could have designed our bodies to have – an instant “off switch” so that we would know when we have eaten exactly what we need. But He didn’t. My wife Nancy, whose thoughts inspire many of my columns, says that perhaps that’s because God wants us to have everything in abundance. He leaves it to us to savor and enjoy until we decide we are sated.

So how long does it take for the brain to realize that our lives are full? Because of His grace we have been left to decide for ourselves when to look up and weep with thanks. We continue to stuff more of everything – good and bad – into our lives until finally we look around and realize that there is no way earthly things can fill that God-shaped hole in our souls.

So in light of the new year, we've come up with 10 ways you can start off 2012 right as you simplify your giving, multiply your impact, and glorify God. 

Here are a few generosity ideas that we love: 

1. Plan a monthly community service opportunity for your family − Spending time serving in your community not only glorifies God, but also has the potential to strengthen your family relationships. We're sure you'll find yourself overflowing with joy through this selfless activity! 
   
   
2. Research a new ministry to invest in this year − Charity Navigator and Guide Star are great resources for news and information on philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, wise giving, donating money, charitable donations, and charity ratings. Be sure to check them out! 
   
   
3. Ask your pastor or ministry leader for opportunities to share your testimony − This can be a bit intimidating to some, but what better way to encourage and bless others than through sharing your spiritual journey.  
   
   
4. Use your Giving Fund to set up recurring grants to your church or favorite ministry − Your Giving Fund is the perfect way to make a consistent investment in ministries and charities around the world. 
   
   
5. Plan a mission trip − Whether for three days or three weeks, traveling outside of your comfort zone to help others will not only deepen your spiritual life but will also give you a greater appreciation for cultures outside of your own. 
   
   
6. Set aside a specific time each week to teach your children the values of good stewardship − This can help you discover how you and your children can start a life-changing dialogue about money now to ensure that your wealth will be a blessing for generations to come. Download our book Family Money for free for more resources regarding family stewardship. 
   
   
7. Read through the Bible this year − There is no better commitment than choosing Jesus and diving into the Word. If you don't already have a plan, join us as we read the The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan together. 
   
   
8. Organize a Giving Circle with a few of your friends − Joining together in community to pool resources and share ideas is a great way to grow friendships and learn generosity while making an even greater impact for the Kingdom! 
   
   
9. Set up a corporate giving program if your company doesn't have one already − Encourage your office to incorporate some kind of giving program to provide opportunities to improve the lives of individuals in your community, including your coworkers. 
   
   
10. Read a new stewardship book − In a world that doesn't always value Christ-centered financial habits, it's always a good idea to keep Godly stewardship fresh on your mind. We recommend checking out Russ Crosson's new book The Truth About Money Lies. 

Hopefully, you'll find these resolutions encouraging and inspiring. Have more ideas on how to start the New Year with generosity? Be sure to leave a comment! We'd love to hear from you. 

Wishing you a happy New Year from the NCF Team! 

The good news about the plan we are using is that YOU ARE NOT BEHIND even though it's already January 3rd. So, it's not too late to get started and jump right in. The water is "living!"

Why this plan? Well, this is the plan for people like me that are a bit lacking in the discipline category. It has readings for 25 days each month. So, if you miss a few days, you're OK. If you never miss, you get 5 or 6 bonus days to drill deeper into what you've already read.

Additionally, this plan is not a Genesis to Revelation plan. If you use this plan, you will read a sampling from the Old Testament and the New Testament every day. It really gives you a good feel for the unity of Scripture and has variety, which they say is the spice of life!

There are several ways to use this plan:

• Print out The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan. Put it in your Bible, and check the boxes as you go along. 
  
  
• Read along at YouVersion.com. This allows you to keep track of your reading plan on your computer, iPhone, and/or iPad. And they talk to each other. So, when you do your reading on your phone, it also keeps track of your progress on your computer and iPad and vice versa. It's that cloud thing at work!
  
  
• Download the plan at NavPress.com here: Discipleship Journal Reading Plan. 

Several times per month we will share a commentary on our blog that shares a few thoughts on the place of generosity in the sections that are coming up. I hope you will join us for a fun year through the Bible in 2012! 

David Wills is President of National Christian Foundation in our Atlanta office. His passions are centered on generosity and eternity, and he therefore invests his time helping others "lay up treasure in heaven" (Matthew 6:20).

And now in his latest book, he uses everyday stories of men and women struggling with common financial decisions to examine what the Bible has to say about our relationship with money. This is an excellent book about making wise financial decisions. It's especially important for young couples just starting out or for anyone who'd like to avoid the dangerous financial traps and lures of our modern world.

Russ has also redesigned and republished one of his all-time best-sellers: Your Life … Well Spent. The first edition of this book, A Life Well Spent, is a classic primer for understanding the eternal rewards of investing yourself and your money in your family. It has been a staple in our family financial library for years. 

My wife, Regina, has used A Life Well Spent for the past six years in her mentoring program with young married women, and it’s been very impactful in their lives. Here's what Regina has to say: "While initially I was unsure how the women would respond to this type of book, I found in the very first year that A Life Well Spent had a huge impact ... so much so that most of the women have asked their husbands to read it." 

Here are just a few of the comments that Regina has received over the years from the women she has mentored with this book: 

• "It opened my eyes to so much more than just monetary issues, but also ideas about how to raise our children, how I spend my time, and how I relate to others. My husband and I should reread it every year."
  
  
• "It's a great book because it discusses stewardship, not just finances. It covers great principles that no one is teaching." 
  
  
• "Best book on stewardship I have ever read. I love the idea of investing in our posterity, and I'm refreshed to focus on the eternal rather than the temporal things."

I'm sure you'll want to invest in both of Russ' new books – The Truth About Money Lies and Your Life ... Well Spent.

Bill Williams is Chief Executive Officer of National Christian Foundation, serving in our Atlanta headquarters office. Bill previously served as CEO of Generous Giving following a 30-year career with the BellSouth Corporation. He and his wife Regina have been married for 39 years and have three grown sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren.

There are three primary motivators for just about everything we do in our spiritual lives: love, reverence (some call this “fear”), and rewards. This last one is often forgotten. The rewards of generosity can be found in this life and the next!

Put your progeny in a position to be generous. Catch them being generous. Praise them for it. Then bring the story of their generosity to your family.

Here’s an example: Encourage your teenage grandchild to sponsor a child in need (of the same age) with you. When the two of you receive correspondence from your sponsored child, read it aloud with the family, maybe at a family celebration such as Christmas eve dinner. Then, as a family, you can celebrate their faithful generosity and the impact it is making.

After a couple of years, let your grandchild know that if they will continue giving, you will celebrate their generosity by taking them to meet their sponsored child!

Celebrating generosity is a beautiful picture of training up a child. It will teach them some of life’s most important lessons and will encourage a heart of generosity for the rest of their lives.

David Wills is President of National Christian Foundation in our Atlanta office. His passions are centered on generosity and eternity, and he therefore invests his time helping others "lay up treasure in heaven" (Matthew 6:20).

Guide them to give – This Christmas, give each child an amount of cash to use for the benefit of others. Stand back and watch the wheels of their minds begin to turn. Guide them to pray for ideas on how to apply the money.

Put ministry in motion – Turn the focus from receiving to giving with fun hands-on family activities this Christmas. For young children, a charity that ministers to other young children may be the perfect fit. Often, a child can relate to another child in a more powerful way than to an adult. Check out charities that invite you to bring your entire family along to serve for a day or a week.

Shift giving in reverse – For your next party or child's birthday party, help your child to identify a need, and ask guests to bring gifts for charity. For example, a children’s shelter could use gifts of toys, clothing, or baby items. Then bring your child along to deliver the gifts to the charity.

Introduce missions – Many missionaries come home on furlough over the Christmas holidays, and they often need a place to stay. Check with your pastor and see if there are missionaries or ministry leaders who you can invite to stay in your home. The stories they share of experiences in different cultures can open your child’s eyes to the blessing they have and foster a heart for God’s people around the world.

Establish a family fund – A Giving Fund is a great way to involve children in the decision-making process of gifting.

You can allow teens to research ministries and causes that interest them and recommend grants from an amount you stipulate, or set up a Fund in their own name and pre-fund the initial balance. Then challenge them to contribute to it on their own as their earnings increase. One teen gets dad to match each amount she gives, creating her own “matching gift program.”

Organize a Bible study on finances – Giving is just one aspect of handling money God’s way. Teach your children what the Bible has to say about finances, debt, and generosity. Discovering God’s Way of Handling Money, from Crown Financial Ministries, is helpful for engaging teens. Visit www.crown.org for more details.

Plan a new spring break – Choose five charities in your home town and visit one per day with your family during spring break. Your teen may even want to bring a friend to serve alongside him. One week of serving will be transformative in how your child sees life.

Take a reality check – Choose a week or month where your family will live on $10 a day for food. This begins to build an understanding of what much of the world must do to survive. It gives you the chance to clear out the pantry and use creative skills to feed the family. Give the amount you save from the food budget to a local food pantry or shelter.

Form a family book club – Are you having a hard time getting your teens to open up and talk? Start a family book club. Choose a generosity classic such as: Fields of Gold, by Andy Stanley; The Treasure Principle, by Randy Alcorn; or The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren. Read a chapter together and discuss it over dinner.

Step up to serve – Is your teen in a Bible study group or a club? Consider having them take a meal to a needy family or a neighbor.

Over the next several days, we'll be posting generosity-inspired giving ideas for children of all ages.

Here are a few you may want to consider for your adult children:

Plan a family mission trip – One of our givers is a doctor who travels with his two adult children to work for one week in Mexico each year, providing medical assistance to children. It's a time of family bonding that far transcends a week at any resort, full of life-changing experiences they will never forget.

Offer a conference sponsorship – Consider sponsoring your children and their spouses to attend a conference that promotes generosity such as the Generous Giving conference (GenerousGiving.org). This powerful event will give them the opportunity to hear testimonies and interact with others who are growing in the grace of giving.

Offer matching grants – To encourage giving, offer to match your children’s gifts dollar-for-dollar. For example, you can match the contributions they make to their Giving Fund.

But you didn't need me to tell you that.

You simply need to open up your email inbox, your mailbox, or your cell phone to read about that "sale that ended five minutes ago!"

For most of us, it seems that from Black Friday to Christmas Day, it's all about rushing to meet deadlines. And in the midst of the chaos, the peace of Christmas seems to vanish as quickly as the sales.

Now before you rush off to the store, take a second with me to be still, and ask yourself, what is all this about anyway? Is Christmas really about baking sugar cookies?

Deep breath. Jesus. It's all about Him. After all, wasn't it Jesus who gave freely, sacrificing everything – His very life – for our salvation? He is the one who we should be showering with our affection, our time, our money, our everything.

Maybe in order to experience the fullness of Christmas, we must experience the fullness of Christ. Taking our eyes off of ourselves and onto the foot of the cross, learning how to give as He gave. And in the process, maybe we should follow in the wisemen's footsteps, bringing our best gifts to the King.

Don't allow the chaos of the season to distract you from the very reason we are celebrating. Let's make this a Christmas worthy of our Savior. Entering each day with a heart of worship and adoration, remembering the birth of our Lord and loving others through our actions.

And giving your time, money, and energy to glorify God will always result in the richest, purest form of joy. And the beauty of it all?

There's no deadline.

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." - Luke 2:14 (KJV)

Rachel Moye serves as the Communications Specialist at NCF. She lives in Atlanta and loves sharing the joy and hope found in living generously. 

One of the tools we have spent a fair amount of money on for our kids is international travel. They’ve been able to see what God is doing all over the world. 

It has been a blessing for my children to not grow up as rich kids. They have the privilege of sitting around our dinner table with people from dozens of different countries as they come through the U.S. to hear what God is doing in Libya, in Iraq, or in China. They have grown up hearing about how great God is and seeing firsthand what He is doing all over the world. I think that is so much better than video games, trips to Disney World, or the things that they’ve not been able to do. 

Several years ago, when we went through the process of basically giving our company away, it was not a traumatic experience for them. They were totally on board with it. My oldest son said, “Thank you, thank you for doing this. This saved me a lot of potential heartache.”

We don’t indulge their every desire, but that’s freeing for our kids. We spend a lot of time with them, and we opened their eyes by taking them around the world. 

The Bible says to leave a rich inheritance for your children, and I think that has little to do with money. I want to leave a rich inheritance of faith, education, ability, and motivation.

Alan Barnhart and his wife, Katherine, have six children. Alan is CEO of Barnhart Crane & Rigging in Memphis, TN. Since 1986, he and his brother, Eric, have built the business into one of the world’s largest heavy lifting and transport companies. Beginning in 2005, they have given away $1 million a month through their corporate giving program. And in 2007, they contributed most of their multi-million dollar company to charity.

One couple told me that a close friend of theirs had recommended National Christian Foundation several years ago, and they opened a Giving Fund based on the recommendation. They said, “It was some of the best advice we’ve ever gotten!” 

In the recent network-wide online survey of NCF givers, 72% of respondents said they had shared National Christian Foundation with a friend. We currently serve 7,993 givers. Can you imagine the Kingdom impact if that number doubled?

If you've been thinking of telling a friend or family member about NCF, I encourage you to do it today. As we approach the year-end giving season, there's no better time to share the good news of giving. It might be just the advice they've been looking for!

Bill Williams is Chief Executive Officer of National Christian Foundation, serving in our Atlanta headquarters office. Bill previously served as CEO of Generous Giving following a 30-year career with the BellSouth Corporation. He and his wife Regina have been married for 39 years and have three grown sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren.

If you're a financial professional, or know someone who is, you'll want to pass on the good news about this exciting conference that will be held February 1-3, 2012, in Florida at the Omni Orlando Resort at Champions Gate.

The Kingdom Advisors conference will showcase a presentation from NCF's national-office President David Wills, world-class speakers, break-out sessions offering 14 hours of CFP® CE credit, and fellowship with like-minded peers.

This year's theme "All In" supports the vision of Kingdom Advisors to create an army of Christian financial professionals leveraging their influence with clients for Kingdom impact. So let's help advisors everywhere get ready to go all in!

>> Register now at KingdomAdvisors.org/2012

From now until Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, November 24, you can log onto our Facebook page and post one thing you're thankful for each day.

Don't miss this great opportunity to bless God's Holy name and share your heart with family and friends at NCF and around the world. We want to know what you're thankful for! 

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. - Psalm 100:4

>> Visit our Facebook page now!