Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account.
Philippians 4:17 NIV
Credited
Back in 2025, Harris & Partners, a licensed insolvency trustee firm surveyed more than 1,700 Canadians, and over 57% of respondents said their income is no longer enough to cover day-to-day expenses like food and household bills. For better or worse, credit cards are bridging the gap. The 2024 Canadian Consumer Credit Card Report found that 69% of Canadian adults use credit cards to cover essential purchases—and among those credit card users, a third said they don’t pay off the full balance each month.
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As someone who has been in fulltime Christian ministry for 45 years this year, I am grateful for the many who have donated time, resources, and prayer into the ministries I’ve been a part of. The return on their spiritual investment will only truly be known when the Kingdom of God comes in its fullness. The sense of return on spiritual investment is a Biblical one. In Philippians 4:17 Paul continues to express his gratitude to the believers in Philippi for the support they have provided him for his ministry, when no one else was doing so. He says this to them: “Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account.” The English Standard Version puts the point of his comment a bit more clearly: “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.” When we invest our resources into Kingdom work, we can be sure that the most important part of the giving is not actually the gift, as wonderful as that is, but the eternal fruit that results from the gift.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley