The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: - Vital Christianity

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R. G. LeTourneau, the Texas industrialist, is a contemporary example of a person with the gift
of giving. In the early years of his business he went into partnership with God. He did not mean
by this that he was bargaining with God’s grace. Rather he said,
“Because I believe that God wants businessmen as well as preachers to be His servants,
I believe that a factory can be dedicated to His service as well as a church.” 15
LeTourneau stated his principle of giving:
“The question in not how much of my money I give to God, but rather how much of
God’s money can I keep.”
He kept less than 10% of his income. He turned 90% of the assets of the company over to his
Christian foundation, and then he and his wife gave in cash 90% of the income that was realized
from the share of the business that he kept. He shared that he and his wife never lacked money to
meet their needs.
“From the minute LeTourneau made God his business partner, things started to go. In
the first 15 years, the Foundation gave over $2.5 million to other organizations
engaged in Christian work, and over $2.25 million in its own program of evangelistic
ministries. Countless Christian schools and organizations in America have been the
recipients of his gift of giving. Scarcely a mission field exists in all five continents
where some devoted worker has not been aided through money from this foundation.
Altogether, millions of dollars have been given to further the Lord’s work.” 16
Stanley Tam, a silver businessman, in Lima, Ohio, is also an example of the gift of giving. He
said he made God the senior partner of his business by legally turning 51% over to his Christian
foundation, then raising it over a period of time to 100%. The foundation receives the profits from
the business. In addition to this, he and his wife more than tithe their own family income as well. 17
Mr. Tam has testified to God’s grace in his ability to make money and give it away: “I frankly
don’t believe I’m as good a businessman as our financial statements indicate. I believe I operate
far above my natural capacity.”
But the gift of giving is not limited to people who make sums of money. The biblical examples
above indicate that this gift also is given to lower income people. The important thing is not “how
much we give,” but “what we do with what we have.”
People with the gift of giving get sheer delight from their ability to share.