I recently played a newer board game called Flamecraft. It’s a resource management/worker placement game where you shop in a cute fantasy town filled with stores with punny names (Draco Bell, Sew Cute, Bizarre Bazaar, etc).

But what truly makes this game delightful is the fact that all the shops become populated with what the game calls “artisan dragons”. Adorable art by Sandara Tang depicts dragons clearly having the time of their lives as they cook and craft.

Seriously, this game is so charming.

As we played, we all started collecting our bread, potions, coins, and whatnot. Gaining these resources helped us gain reputation (victory points), which is how you win the game. But as we played, we realized a theme to the game.

You could complete an action to gain reputation, but the majority of the time, there was an option to then give resources to another player and gain more reputation. This quickly became the preferred strategy: give more to gain more.

The game turned out to be a perfect metaphor for what Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians 9.

“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-8

As we sat around the table playing Flamecraft, we were joking that we weren’t just shopping, we were also showering resources and coin on everyone around us. We weren’t just gaining, we were joyfully giving, and we were all better for it.

Well, I was the most better, because I won. But that’s neither here nor there.

Real life happens to be very similar to this. When believers give, and give joyfully, God gives back to us for it. Paul says that we will have “sufficiency in all things at all times”. In Malachi, it’s something that God literally says to challenge Him on. When we give, just see how much He will give back.

Today is Giving Tuesday. It’s a day that people around the world are challenged to give to non-profits, to experience first-hand the joy of giving. At SavePoint, we’ve set a goal that we’re calling the “50 for 10”, meaning we’re looking for 50 people who are willing to donate 10 dollars or more to us on a monthly basis.

We’d love for you to consider becoming one of our donors, but I’ll be completely honest:

That’s not what this blog is about.

It would, in fact, be hypocritical to write a blog on giving, only to ask to receive.

No, I’m writing this to tell you how much I love giving.

When my church feeds the hungry, or when Operation Christmas Child sends out gifts, or even when I sit across from a friend who I just bought lunch for, knowing that I contributed to that truly brings me a joy that words on a screen can’t fully express. Looking back on it, the money given is nothing compared to the way God blesses me through giving it.

I challenge you to give. If it’s SavePoint, that would be great, but again, this isn’t about that. This is about you finding something that you can be joyful giving toward. This is about you knowing that when you give, it’s worth every cent given.

Give like you’re shopping in artisan dragon shops. It’s worth it.