This is a wonderful video from Generous Giving. I love the warmth and family element to it, and also the realistic honesty that says life, child raising, and giving are sometimes quite hard, but always very rewarding:

Here’s something I wrote in my book Giving Is the Good Life:

Giving is more than a noble and compassionate act. It’s a giant lever positioned on the fulcrum of this world, allowing us to move mountains in the next world. When we die, we will see at last the incredible, eternal results of our giving.

Because we give, eternity will be different—for others and for us and our families. Giving away our money, possessions, time, and talents is a sacred opportunity to make a great and eternal difference. And it’s also our opportunity to enter into living the good life now.

When he was young, Matt McPherson sought the Lord’s direction for his life. Matt built archery bows and asked God for the wisdom to build the best bows in the world. He developed the single cam bow and now owns one of the world’s largest archery bow companies.

Matt started other business ventures, including McPherson Guitars, which he began with his father. Their goal is to make money to impact the world. They now fully support more than seven hundred missionaries worldwide.

Matt’s story is another one that makes me thank God for furthering His Kingdom by not calling some people to spend their lives as pastors or missionaries. There are millions of faithful business and professional people, including musicians, artists, and athletes, spread across the world. If Matt has fully funded seven hundred missionaries, how many tens of thousands of other missionaries have been able to go do their work because believers in secular vocations have faithfully used their gifts and passions to build businesses that generously send and support them? And while supporting missionaries, they themselves serve Christ in the unique mission fields of their businesses and neighborhoods.

Matt McPherson says, “When I’m dying, I’m not going to be wishing I’d bought myself something else. I’m going to be thinking, ‘I wish I would have done more for Christ.’”

I think Matt is exactly right. When we enter Christ’s presence, we’ll see with eternity’s clarity.

We’re called God’s servants, and we’re told it’s required of us that we “prove faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2). So while we still have our earthly lives to live, why not sharpen our long-distance vision and grab hold of the good life now?

Why not make what will be most important to us when we die most important to us now?

Why not spend the rest of our lives closing the gap between what we are giving and what we will one day wish we’d given?