Personal Conversion & Stewardship Decisions
by the Rev. Canon J. Hugh Magers
Martin Luther described three levels of conversion. First, there is conversion of the mind. Then there is conversion of the heart. Finally, and this is the most difficult, there is conversion of the wallet.
Jesus, in his regular way of doing things, turns that formula upside down. Jesus said, "...where a man's treasure is, there will his heart be also." (Matthew 6:21)
In my experience, more folk "behave" themselves into full faith than suddenly come to full faith and then act accordingly. That is to say, a fair percentage of people started being serious about giving and then found that their heart had come along into serious faith. To my sure and certain knowledge Jesus' teaching about this is true. One friend of mine said, "God sent me a message in a way that I had to deal with it - it was a message about what I am to do with money."
Dealing with God seriously always creates a zone of cognitive dissonance. For me it was the discovery of being loved without condition while being acutely aware of my failure, sinfulness and rebellion. I remember feeling, at the same time, intense remorse and immense relief. In that zone between remorse and relief, a zone of cognitive dissonance, is where conversion happened for me.
The word for conversion in Greek, the language that was used for the original New Testament, is metanoia. It is a two-part word. Meta means wholeness, coming together. We see the word in metaphysics or metabolic. Noia means mind. So metanoia means coming to wholeness of mind. And, when body imagery is used in the New Testament, we must lower the organ about a foot to get a contemporary version of meaning. So, it really means coming to wholeness of heart.
Christian giving is not only a sign of conversion, it leads to conversion. One Christian described tithing as "a habit that heals the heart." I think the reason for this is when we enter our zone of cognitive dissonance about God, money, our insecurities and anxieties, we discover God's providence. As our awareness of God's providence grows, our anxieties about money diminish. Our hearts become more whole.
The scariest, but most hopeful text in the Bible, in my opinion, about this is Malachi 3:6-12:
"For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?' Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, 'How are we robbing you?' In your tithes and offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me - the whole nation of you! Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. I will rebuke the locust for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts."
As my conversion deepens and expands, my heart is made well. As that happens, I live more and more in the land of delight that God promises. For me, giving money to God, in the percentage that God demands, 10%, is a door that I open into that land of delight.
I do not for a second think that God loves us more if we give more. I do not for a second think that personal salvation is in any way dependent on what we give. God's love and salvation are costly to God, but free for us.
Hugh Magers, a retired priest from the Diocese of West Texas, is formerly the director of Stewardship at the Episcopal Church Center. Now he serves on the Board of Directors of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship, and as a consultant to dioceses and parishes on stewardship, evangelism and Hispanic Ministry Development.
