Good Reads: The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn

It can be easy to think of our money as our own and the possessions we have as things we’ve worked hard to get. But that’s not how God sees them.

As Christians it can be easy to get sucked into the world’s standard of living and keeping up with the Jones’. Even those who commit a tenth of their income to God can easily tithe out of habit or duty without ever finding joy in giving.

The Treasure Principle is filled with lessons and examples of how letting go of “our” finances actual brings extreme joy and peace not only in eternity, but here and now, too.

Throughout this book, Randy Alcorn explains the Treasure Principle. “You can’t take it with you–but you can send it on ahead.” He also outlines six keys to the Treasure Principle and gives numerous examples of real life people who are living out these keys to joyful giving.

I was inspired by several of the stories and the keys to the Treasure Principle were both good reminders and thought provoking truths.

One of my favorite quotes in the book was in chapter 2: Compounding Joy. After discussing the joyful giving of the Macedonian Christians (2 Corinthians 8: 1-5), Randy stated that, “Giving isn’t a luxury of the rich. It’s a privilege of the poor.” I love how he explained giving as a thunder response to the lightning of God’s grace and how he described giving as “simply the overflow of joy.”

I also really enjoyed the discussion questions at the back of the book. These questions would be great for working through the topic of financial giving with your spouse, a group of friends, or an accountability partner.

My only two complaints? I wish the book had focused a little more on giving to local needs and I wish there would have been real-life examples of how you can give even when you’re struggling to make ends meet. Most of the giving that was discussed was giving to foreign missions, which I think is very valuable, but I would have liked to see at least a few examples of local giving as well. It also would have been nice to read some modern day examples of how people who are just scraping by can also experience the joy of giving.

Have you read any good reads in the past few weeks? Tell us about them in the comments!

 See the 13 Books I Plan to Read in 2013 here.

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