Church Worker Wellness – Week 23 devotion: Financial wellness

“Building Up the Body: Worker-to-Worker” is a series of church worker wellness devotions. Visit lcms.org/wellness for more resources.

By Darrell Zimmerman, pastor and program director at Grace Place Wellness Ministries

Leaky seals and generosity

Thirty-five years ago, when we were raising babies, I thought the “Sippy Seal” cup was about the greatest invention ever. Our kids used the Tupperware® Sipper Seal® cup with a snap-on lid and a little spout that — when tipped over — only let out a little bit of juice.

I was a bit overwhelmed by the new version used by our grandkids that leaks liquid like Fort Knox leaks gold. What a great design!

It makes me wonder a bit what God had in mind when He designed us to leak like the crankcase of my old 1966 Ford Falcon.

We truly are “jars of clay” (2 Cor. 4:7). We leak. But that’s good.

God is glorified and the Gospel of Christ is honored when people recognize their frailty and weakness.

Salvation can’t be from us. Just look at us. We are cracked and leaky.

The goodness of God, poured out on the world through Word and Sacrament, is His gift alone, His doing.

Leaky is also good when it comes to financial well-being.

The rich fool stored up his treasure in barns with no leaks. That didn’t work out well.

God didn’t design us to be Sippy Cups. Made in His own image, we’re called to be fountains of blessing; rivers, not reservoirs.

King David had it right in Ps. 23:5: “My cup overflows.”

All who have known the grace of God by faith know that God is lavish in His dispensations of grace, love and mercy. My cup overflows because His flagon pours out goodness so bountifully and unceasingly.

Financial well-being is never about mathematics. Generosity always has been and always will be a matter of the heart.

My old nature worries about excess leakage, drips and spills that escape from my little Sippy Cup.

My new nature in Christ understands that sloppy, messy, boundless giving that spills all over the place is the way of the kingdom of God.

I planted shrubs over the weekend. It’s hot in St. Louis, and they’ll need water. I wrapped each bush a couple times around with another great invention — the soaker hose.

It looks like one of the worst inventions ever. It doesn’t in any way fit the dictionary definition of “hose.” You open the faucet on one end, and nothing comes out the other end. The water all spills out along the way.

It’s designed to leak. So are we.

God bless your journey of generosity.

The Rev. Dr. Darrell Zimmerman was called in 2012 to serve as the first full-time program director of Grace Place Wellness Ministries. Zimmerman and his wife, Carol, attended the first Grace Place retreat in 1999, and he has 30-plus years of parish pastoral experience.

“Building Up the Body: Worker-to-Worker” devotions and prayers will be released Monday mornings on the LCMS Facebook and Twitter pages. Church Worker Wellness devotions will also be archived online.

LCMS church workers and their families are invited to offer encouragement to other workers and families by submitting a 500-word devotion for the Synod’s worker-to-worker wellness devotion series. Email questions and submissions to workerwellness@lcms.org.