7:30 AM Much appreciation to Henry Neufeld for hosting an interesting and thought-provoking discussion about Christian stewardship last night on Google Hangout. You can watch the whole thing below.

It’s horrifying to confront my own lack of stewardship. “Sell all of your possessions and give the proceeds to the poor.” K-thanks-goodbye. Jesus mocks our materialism, at least He does mine. Yet as Steve Kindle pointed out in the discussion, stewardship doesn’t begin with the question of “How much should I give?” Instead, the right question is “How much is mine?” — to which the answer is nothing. Hence, as David Croteau noted — David has now written three books on why tithing is not for Christians — the church still doesn’t get it. The consumer vortex that most evangelicals are (unwittingly perhaps) sucked into is just ignored. Well, David confronts it head on. The New Testament doesn’t require the tithe? Nope, and it never did. I stare blankly at David’s impeccable logic. “Love each other well and your needs will be met.” For me, the largest takeaway from last night’s Hangout was the reminder that Jesus came to set us free. He sees much deeper than what we see. He realizes that everything we have belongs to Him. 100 percent in fact. And so we have to make a choice. We can either draw people to a calculator or lead them to Christ. Jesus, You are the standard to which we all aspire. Teach us to love, to lead, to trust, to obey — and to give (back).