“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Hebrews 13:16
This morning while I was eating my breakfast rice and sitting in the comfy chair in my kitchen, I thought about the mothers around the world who have to split any available food up to their children each morning, knowing that none of them will be full when they are finished eating.
As I filled my bowl again, I thought about the children whose bowls would not be filled today, and I wondered why God is gracious to me in this way. Why does my family have more than enough? Why, though my son is growing right now and always “still hungry”, did God see fit to make sure we always have enough to continue feeding him?
The only reasons I can come up with is so that we can share what we have. So God can be glorified in our giving, and in their receiving. So my son can grow healthy and strong (in body and spirit) and help those who are weak. (This, I tell him, is the reason God gave him a strong body and mind: so he might help others.)
We give, but I always want to give more. Perhaps that is good. Maybe I would not want to come to the place where I feel we give enough. There is a question I have been mulling over– perhaps you can give me some godly insight: we have a mortgage–it is our only debt. We’d like to pay it off more quickly than the allotted time of the loan. We have a heart to give as well…but our discretionary income is such that we must choose– pay more on our loan (and therefore have more available to give sooner when the loan is paid off) or give more now, to the children who are hungry now, to the people who need care now?
What do you do? I know there is no one prescription for giving, paying off debts, or indulging in personal luxuries, and that it up to individual families to work out what God has for them, but I am sure there is godly wisdom to rule our financial decisions, and I know his Word has a lot to say on the subject.
I heard once that our offerings (financial) to the Lord should be sacrificial, consistent, and proportional. I often wonder about the sacrificial aspect and I am reminded of the widow’s two copper coins in Luke Chapter 21. Am I merely giving out of my abundance? Or am I giving sacrificially? Is it truly giving if it doesn’t cost me something?
I obviously have lots of questions in this area and have been praying about it over the last several weeks and have read the excellent (although sometimes bogged down in statistics) Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, by Ronald J. Sider and the practical Living More With Less, by Doris Janzen Longacre. Rich Christians especially was convicting and has an excellent section on the Scriptural mandate for giving and caring for people in need.
How seriously do I rely on the Lord for my daily bread? How seriously do I take John at his word– do I believe that if I have the world’s goods and see my brother in need, and close my heart against him, God’s love does not abide in me? What am I willing to give up for the sake of my brothers and sisters? Why does my daily life look like everyone else’s around me, more or less? 1 John 3:13 says that I shouldn’t be surprised that the world hates me. Does the world hate me? I’m not sure if it has any reason to…is there much visibly different about the way I live and give and love? I don’t think my lifestyle is particularly convicting to anyone. (I am not saying that the purpose of our lifestyles should ever be to bring conviction to someone else– only the Holy Spirit can convict the hearts of people. Our intent should only be to walk in purity and humility before God alone. My question is, am I doing this? Or am I blindly following a “Christian” version of the world’s way of doing things?)
Just some Monday Morning Thoughts. What are your thoughts and own personal questions on the topic?
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February 8, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Becky Keck
Hi, Rachel – just stumbled across your blog, and wanted you to know how much I loved it. I only wish I had realized as many things when I was your age as you have! I think you are definitely an artist!
February 8, 2010 at 10:04 pm
LabShark
Okay, I will now leave a thoughtful comment. (or book, as the case may be)
Good thoughts. Heavy thoughts. Familiar thoughts. I’ve been mulling over that concept recently myself. As you know, my family just moved.
I’ve been wondering a bit, “How much is it ok to spend on making my room look nice and beautiful and reflective of the beauty and order of my Lord? And how much am I being blindly selfish by dropping a half paycheck on curtains when people are starving? What is my responsibility?
In my praying and wondering, here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
A.) Like you wisely stated, there is no magic formula, some one-size-fits-all “how to spend your money if you’re a Christian”.
B.) It’s dependent on the Holy Spirit. Pastor Keesee has a phrase I like, “energy of the flesh.” I think it’s important that we don’t just give of our fleshly energy or bursts of human emotion –that’s nothing more than humanitarianism. And we are called to be more than just like the best of the worldly folks. We are citizens of another kingdom, we follow another code of conduct.
C.) We also don’t want to juse give out of guilt. There is a vast difference between powerful, true, healthy conviction from the Spirit of God and false chains of guilt from Satan. Test the thought–seek out the Lord.
D.) Don’t give “X” just because that’s all that the other Christians do around you. Be willing to be bold for your God, giving much more time, money, thought, etc. into life than they would consider “necessary.” No sacrifice is too extreme for the God who “spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.” Your only standard in giving–in loving–in living–is the Jesus Christ, the Word of God.
E.) It is impossible to truly give beyond human measures without the heart of God.
If you don’t have God’s heart–His aching compassion, a heart quick to weep with the weeping, laugh with the laughing, feeling sharply the pain or suffering of others–ask for it!
He promises in 1 Peter 1:3 that He has given unto us “all things that pertain unto life and godliness.”
One of those things is His heart. Ask, and you will receive!
F.) When you have God’s heart stirring within you, and are being directed solely by His Holy Spirit, you will being to see things differently. You will be willing to offer, to pour out your life for whatever He would want. And it will be joy!
G.) Don’t limit your scope. Let our Lord pour His compassion over you for all peoples who hurt. It’s the dramatic cases of child starvation in Africa…it’s also the co-worker whose brother-in-law committed suicide…it’s the mother in North Korea whose children were forced to adopt Communism and publicly renounce the Christian faith that she taught them….it’s the poor man in Ladoga whose life is being wasted away in cigarettes and alchohol…it’s the child in Haiti who lost his mother, father, left left, and right eye in the earthquake….it’s the church-going teen who was never met Jesus Christ personally…etc.
Let it hurt. Let it sting. Let it draw tears out of the well in your soul. Jesus wept over wayward Jerusalem.
H.) But don’t just sit in your misery and mourning! Ask the Lord to “lay some soul upon your heart”, as the old hymn says. It might be your crabby neighbor. It might be a special needs child in Mexico. One is not more “spiritual” than the other. But each is precious and fully-known to God. Let Him lay a person, a cause, a whatever upon your heart.
I.) You want to help others. This is pleasing to our Father. And He wants you to help even more than you do! He will enable you with the wisdom and means to share, give, sacrifice. You are not just “on your own” to figure this out. He wants to guide you to the perfect situation and plan, that you might best display His riches of love, and best pour out your life and goods for Him.
J.) Most of all, don’t center your life around “What God wants to do with my life, money, family, house, rice, et.c”, but around Jesus Christ Himself. Be intimately walking with Him, and these things will be the outflow. If you focus only on the problems and pains of this world, 1.) you will be horribly depressed, and 2.) you will not be fully equipped to most effectively rescue and comfort the afflicted. Focus on Jesus Christ, let Him be the center of your life!
Your life then will not be drab, painful giving, living in an empty, cold apartment with a pinched face and a pious frown.
It will be a radiant, warm, beautiful outpouring of the radiant, warm, and beautiful love of Jesus Christ!
Yes, it will have painful moments. Yes, your life won’t be the same anymore, because it won’t be “your’s” anymore. (not that it ever really was!)
You will see the needy down the street and around the world, and be well-equipped to give of time, money, love, and goods as would suit each need.
K.) Titus 3:14 says, “And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.”
By much fruit the Father is glorified. (see John 15)
Live a life of constant “pouring-out”. Pour yourself out on your son. Give ’till it hurts of your love, your time, your goodies.
As Mother Theresa said, “When you love ’till it hurts, there will no longer be hurt left, just love.” (author’s paraphrase)
L.) This, after all, is the secret to true giving, the kind of giving that is much more than human effort or dry duty. The kind of giving that speaks loudly of Jesus Christ and rises as a pleasant fragrance to our Father in Heaven!
True giving is living a poured-out life.
A poured-out life has layed aside all elements of Self.
It chooses each morning, by the enablement of Christ’s Powerful Spirit, to take a knife to the throat of Self and say, “It’s time for you to be going.” (Eric Ludy gets the credit for that phrase)
This sort of heart sees the needs around and happily gives to help them.
This life lavishes love on each person it meets, pure love untainted by “what will they think about me?, nobody else loves like this, this phone call is cutting into my reading time, etc.”
It offers whatever it has to help, i.e., “Oh, you’re having a baby shower? Would you like to borrow my folding chairs?” (even though you want to keep them nice and for yourself)
“Your father just went to the hospital for a stroke? Let’s pray–right now!”–even though you were going to take advantage of the quiet house to take a nap.
A life that always has room for giving whatever to whomever in the moment of need, according to the direction of the Spirit of Jesus.
M.) Where true selfless love and true Spirit-led praying converge, the natural outflow is service. God-pleasing religion is seeking out the forgotten and needy and filling up what is lacking, and keeping a heart that is an undefiled throne of Jesus Christ, King of Kings. (James 1:27)
N.) Don’t be daunted by the enormity of the task! Start with one. Smile to encourage when you want to frown to get pity. Set aside your personal agenda to really listen to Chad like you’re on pins and needles. Read about the orphans in Haiti when you’d rather read a novel. Call a lonely person. Write a letter to your mother. Pray about giving money to a missionary friend.
Start with small steps, and watch it snowball! Like I said earlier, God cares more about this area than even you do! He will honor your small choices, He will give you move power and wisdom than you thought possible. Just keep up that sweet and powerful daily communion with Him. Love God and let Him love others through you. Continually shut down Self, and enter the battle fray for the rescuing of the afflicted, lonely, hopeless, lost, lonely, needy, and hungry.
As Oswald Chambers said, “Tell God you are ready to be offered, and He will prove Himself all that you every dreamed Him to be.”
O.) Finally, read the Word much. Titus 3 is a great one. It talks about being poured out for good works–beneficial effort –erga agatha, yet recalling that the foundation of our salvation is all about God’s mercy and not our works of righteousness.
P.) Enjoy the ramblings–may they add a bit of fuel and clarity! Keep running the race of the radical!
In Christ alone,
Alex
February 9, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Thoughts of Clover
I think you should give when you can. If you can now, then do it now.
February 10, 2010 at 8:44 am
Jen
Sounds to me that you have the gift of giving if that is how your heart is moved. We are all asked to be faithful with what God has given to us, but some are burdened further because of the giftings He has given to us. There is purpose in that gift, so be sensitive to it. It’s good to read and be mindful of opportunities that exist, situations that are current, despair that is developing–good to be shaken and awakened–but when making a decision about how and where and what to give, open your Bible and get on your knees and then just obey. Anyone else’s opinion will cause you to stumble. Only the Lord can truly direct you in real obedience concerning His will for you. And don’t forget the other ways of giving, outside of finances… you can give your time and talents and share your possessions as well. Those are also more tangible ways to teach our children about giving, too.
As a last point (am I really making any at all?), being married to a person with the gift of giving but not actually being gifted that way myself, I see that it is important to him to be able to give in that way, but we have had to come to an agreement about how much and when and who and whether it needs to be discussed each and every time, just so there is not point of dissension or opportunity for division. Took some work and is still open for discussion, but we do have a basic plan.