Between giving and taking‧Examples‧

The 39th issue of Kingdom of God Magazine contains Professor Wen Yingqian’s masterpiece "Between Giving and Gaining - Money Stewardship and Generous Giving". It talks about giving as giving, but because you are willing to "give up", you will be greatly blessed by God and "get". Examples include Academic research and empirical findings reveal that giving generously is the secret to blessing. Our story is an example of this.

"Giving up" in passivity, "gaining" in grace

Before my husband and I believed in the Lord, we spent a lot of money on legal fees due to a lawsuit in 2005. Some people may not be able to save that much in their lifetime. Moreover, the house leaked and it rained all night. Later, the couple lost their jobs one after another. Looking back on the past ten years or so, we have no longer actively looked for professional-related jobs. We have passively and slowly given up on worldly pursuits and put the work of the Kingdom of God as our top priority in everything. That’s because God knows that we cannot voluntarily give up our work or our pursuit of material things. When we are willing to serve God, He allows us to experience His great love, guides and protects us through various difficulties, gives us what we have to offer, and testifies that the brothers and sisters’ prayers for us over the years will not fail.

In 2011, I first tasted the feeling of being laid off. At the same time, my father became critically ill for the first time. I decided not to pursue a high salary anymore and just wanted to take a long vacation to go back to Taiwan to be with my parents. It wasn’t that I had earned enough that year and could retire to Taiwan to live out my old life. On the contrary, my daughter was applying for college. At that time, I just wanted to sell my house and go back to Taiwan, so I encouraged my daughter to go back to Taiwan to study in order to avoid the high tuition fees in the United States. Unfortunately, my daughter was busy participating in the drum and trumpet band and had no time to submit her works to apply to schools in Taiwan, so she had to give up and return to Taiwan to study.

At that time, I just felt that the burden of raising a house was too heavy, and I also wanted to go back to Taiwan to be with my elderly and sick parents, so I took out a recovered loan and booked a pre-sale house in Taiwan, which was a small one-bedroom apartment. In the first hall, I plan to go back to Taiwan to live. Unexpectedly, our family mistakenly thought that we were desperate and wanted to return to Taiwan to fight for our inheritance! Oh, my heart was really hurting at that time, so painful that I could only complain to God. Whenever I think about this, I would rather devote all the rest of my life to God, including my time and talents, and live a life centered only on God.

Five or six years have passed, things have changed, my father has passed away, and my mother's condition has gotten much better. In order not to cause trouble to my family, I gradually gave up the idea of returning to Taiwan. But strangely, when I was worried that I had to sell my house in the United States in order to maintain the pre-sale house in Taiwan, my husband chose to serve full-time and resigned voluntarily.

Obviously, God took the initiative in this way to help us make the decision: there is no need to return to Taiwan. This time, even though I lost a sum of money again, which was the down payment for a pre-sale house, I didn’t feel any pain in my heart. Instead, I thanked the Lord for letting go of my heavy burden. Although the house taxes and maintenance fees for this house in the United States are horribly expensive, if you calculate carefully, if the whole family can still live together in the future instead of moving out separately, it will save money and you can also host missionaries or speakers.

The secret to financial freedom

Many people are curious and often ask us: How do you live with little income? Have to pay so much travel expenses again?

It’s really hard to describe in words! Sometimes I can only laugh and not answer, or say, rely on capital, but how can an office worker with no permanent property come up with so much capital?

Why did we go through so many disasters, lose money, lose our jobs, and the couple later had no stable income, and our families never supported us, and we never owed money but even lent money to our families for investment? Why can you still hold on? What's the secret? To put it bluntly, it’s in the “Christian Financial Management” course we took.

Only when we listened to the series of "Christian Investment and Financial Management Classes" taught by Professor Wen and several other teachers at the Kingdom of God Cultural Practice Camp, and later the "Financial Management" Bible study course based on biblical principles, did we know that It turns out that our past financial planning was completely consistent with the teachings of these experts, including tithing (see Malachi 3:10). No wonder we continue to be blessed. The financial management principles of "not being greedy" and "not being in debt", coupled with God's timely provision, allow us to live a contented and abundant life.

I strongly recommend that everyone use the fellowship time to learn Bible study courses on financial management. Especially young professionals can learn how to manage finances according to biblical principles and become faithful, kind and knowledgeable stewards of God. Take good care of the money God has entrusted to us. (See Matthew 24:45)

Full-time ministry

In April 2013 and June 2016, my husband Yongxun and I embarked on the path of full-time ministry respectively. The decision to serve full-time was not that difficult for my husband and me. After experiencing so many ups and downs, we have certainly understood that everything we have is in the hands of God (see Job 1:21). Therefore, it is not difficult to assume that everything we have is given by God. Now we understand why we can embark on the path of “full-time ministry” without hesitation!

Although we are not rich and live frugally, the most important thing is not to waste God’s provision. It’s not that we don’t know how to enjoy, we just hope that we can continue to be good stewards of God. God is so faithful that he does not make us poor and distressed, but makes us live richer. Thank and praise God!

Author profile Wu Limin, who has a son and a daughter with her husband, has nearly 30 years of experience in financial computerization. She has served as a programming manager, project leader and other positions. She currently works part-time as an accountant in a printing company and serves as a media player at the BRC Bethel Center. The convener of missions and outreach, concurrently serves as art editor, ministry promotion and text ministry, and actively participates in missionary activities. Mr. Yongxun worked as a computer technician and system engineer. After resigning, he participated full-time in missionary-related activities and worked in logistics, administration and finance at BRC Bethel Center (www.bethelrc.org).