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“Get all you can without hurting your soul, your body, or your neighbor. Save all you can, cutting off every needless expense. Give all you can. Be glad to give, and ready to distribute, laying up for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that you may attain eternal life.”– John Wesley

Stewardship is at the heart of the Wesleyan revival, and John Wesley considered it an integral component of Christian discipleship. It was a consistent theme of his preaching and personal practice. Giving financial resources was a necessary spiritual discipline of every member of the Wesleyan classes and societies. For Wesley, no one was exempt from the commandment to love God and neighbor, and giving was an expression of that love.

Wesley’s sermon “The Use of Money” highlighted three rules he expected every Methodist to abide by. Those are to earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.

Most Methodists have heard those rules in Sunday School classes, Methodist studies, and even confirmation. The great question we must ask ourselves is whether we have upheld them. It is easy enough to follow the first step of earning and saving, but what about the third?

Wesley wanted those who were a part of this movement to understand that giving was rooted in God’s very nature and activity. Grace, God’s unmerited love poured out to humanity supremely in Jesus Christ, is who God is. Therefore, Love for God inevitably involves giving oneself to God and the neighbor. Through this love, we are motivated to be people who give and fulfill the great commandment to love God and others! As you fulfill your stewardship duties this week, remember that it is in our spiritual DNA as Christians and as the people called Methodists to be known for our extraordinary generosity so that others may be influenced to follow the way of Jesus.

Journeying Together,

John

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