I remember that evening around the dining room table, holding hands with my wife and kids while we prayed and thanked God for our food. We had done it so many nights before, but that night it was different. That night it had become incredibly real to me.
After months of support-raising, we had received word earlier in the day that we were fully funded and free to begin fulltime ministry. In a very real sense, I realized, that food we were about to eat really had come from God, through the generous giving of His people.
In the decade since, we have been blessed so much by the generous giving of others, and God’s faithful provision. But after reading Jeff Anderson’s book, Plastic Donuts, Giving that Delights the Heart of the Father, I have to wonder: Does my giving delight God in the same way, or is it merely my attempt to satisfy some legalistic requirement?
In this brief book, Jeff shares his simple and refreshing view of giving, inspired by the moment his two-year-old daughter walked across the living room and offered him a plastic donut from her play kitchen—a gift that brought him tremendous joy as a father. From this perspective, he offers insights into what it truly means to bring our offerings to God, whether large or small, as acceptable and pleasing gifts.
As an evening read, a small group study, or inspiration for a sermon or series, this book provides challenge after challenge. For the believer seeking to break out of the routine of dutiful giving, it offers a new way to think about giving: giving that brings joy to the Father.
Local and interested in reading this book? Let me know, I’d be happy to lend it to you. Live farther away? Pick up a copy for yourself here.
“Dutiful giving”‘and I go way back, but this book has blown that idea out of the water.