Plastic Donuts Notes

This post is less a book review, than a way to keep track of my notes for an excellent book I read on giving, Plastic Donuts: Giving That Delights the Heart of the Father.

The author wrote about "acceptable gifts" to God. Using the story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4), the author pointed out that "Not all gifts are the same to Him. Not all gifts are acceptable." (p. 24).  He defined "acceptable" as "It's a word that expresses delightful, surprising, perfect, tearful, proud, ecstatic, happiness. What word would that be? It's what acceptable means." (p. 25).

The author defined "Acceptable Gift Truths" on p. 108. I added scriptural references that were used by the author earlier in the book to validate the points.

• The amount matters (Matthew, 6:21, 2 Samuel 24:22-25)
• We determine the amount (Deuteronomy 16:16-17)
• We give according to ability. (2 Corinthians 8:12, Deut. 16:16-17, Acts 11:29-30).
• The heart makes the gift count. (Proverbs 21:3, 1 Sam. 15:22).

The book also taught about what the author called, "heart prompts." 

• "God commands us to give freely. These giving instructions come through promptings of the heart. Some of these heart prompts--called direct prompts--are firm and clear. Some are less so, like whispers from God." (p. 52). (see Deut. 15:7-8, 11)
• "Direct prompts are commands from God that direct our gifts." (p. 53).
• "Like direct prompts, whisper prompts help us act on the command to give freewill gifts. But unlike direct prompts that are load and clear, whispers are subtle nudges from God." (p. 55). (see Exodus 25:2)
• "God initiates heart prompts to draw you nearer to Him." (p. 58).

Here are some quotes that summarize the author's teaching:

• "Everyone should determine a personal giving standard in their budget." (p. 47)
• "Just because God gives us the freedom to determine our gifts, that does not mean any random choice is a pleasing one to him. To choose or not to give freely and willingly is to ignore God's clear desires." (p. 50).
• "Nor is Plastic Donuts a message about triggering blessings, dodging curses, sowing seeds, or not robbing God." (p. 63)
• "But by now, we have clear scriptural guidelines that address these type of questions. When it comes our gifts, we know the amount matters. And when selecting gifts, we determine the amount, in order to delight our Father.

In summary, the book is very good. It teaches that our goal in giving should be to please God. The more the gift matters to you, the more the gift will matter to God. If you disagree with the book from my notes, it is probably my fault. I am still processing the teachings of the book and hence, the blog. Please read the book and form your own conclusions. It is very short and a very easy read.