Generous Love

 

Several years ago I attended a seminar for pastors led by an ‘expert’ in stewardship who said that his methods would increase giving at the church by at least 30%. Some of the principles were sound. He told us to make sure to communicate a clear vision (what are we planning to do and why) so that people know what they are supporting. Good idea, right? He also instructed us to make the church’s financial reports transparent so people will be confident that funds are not being wasted. That, too, was a good point. 

Then the presentation soured for me.  When a large project comes along, special requiring a lot of resources, he told us to find ‘key’ (meaning people with money) donors who would publicly announce their support and the amount of their donation to the congregation which would challenge others to match their ‘generosity.’ “Pastor, make sure you announce how much you are giving, too. You set the tone.”  Mr. Money Guy and I went separate ways on that point. Would his method work to raise money? I am sure it would, but with the wrong motive, a misplaced reason.

In giving, as all of our Christian living, we know how important it is to be authentic, to live what we believe.  If I taught others to tithe (which I do)  but did not do it myself, I’d be a hypocrite inviting God’s judgment.  I have always given the first 10% of my income to the work of the Lord, and I am glad that I have been privileged to do so. There is great joy in being a financial partner with my church, with charities like World Vision, in benevolent efforts, and with those who are doing missionary work in other parts of the world.  I believe that tithing provides a minimal guideline for giving, creating a discipline which I personally know has helped me to keep the idolatry of things from taking over my heart. But, I don’t announce my gifts or seek recognition for this, nor do I want to.  

Jesus says that our charitable giving, like all ‘acts of righteousness,’ is not to be done for the admiration of others, but because we love God! In the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus explains the principles of God’s world, He says - “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:1-4, NIV)

God sees, God rewards! I am glad for that. He is not concerned about the amount of our giving, but that it is generous and proportional to our resources. In another story in the Gospel’s Jesus surprised His disciples by telling them that the 2 cent gift of a poor widow was greater than the gold of a rich man! "Jesus went over to the collection box in the Temple and sat and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two pennies. He called his disciples to him and said, “I assure you, this poor widow has given more than all the others have given. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.” (Mark 12:41-44, NLT)

Are you generous, Christian?  Think your 2 cents does not matter, or that your $2000 should matter more? Reconsider that in light of God’s wisdom. God is not interested in how much we give but that our giving reflects the true love of our heart and that it is in line with our income.

Don’t be guilted into giving!  Give with delight. Learning to give, to practice generosity, is part of being a disciple of Christ Jesus. Discover the joy of making the life of another better by giving of your time, your resources, your love.

The word from the Word - "Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each make up your own mind as to how much you should give. Don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves the person who gives cheerfully. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say, “Godly people give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will never be forgotten.”" (2 Corinthians 9:6-9, NLT)

_____________

Build My Life

(The real foundation for life, Jesus!)

 

Worthy of ev’ry song we could ever sing

Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring

Worthy of ev’ry breath we could ever breathe

We live for You

 

Jesus the name above ev’ry other name

Jesus the only one who could ever save

Worthy of ev’ry breath we could ever breathe

We live for You

We live for You

 

Holy there is no one like You

There is none besides You

Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who You are

And fill me with Your heart

And lead me in Your love to those around me

 

I will build my life upon Your love

It is a firm foundation

I will put my trust in You alone

And I will not be shaken

 

Brett Younker | Karl Martin | Kirby Elizabeth Kaple | Matt Redman | Pat Barrett

© 2016 Martin, Karl Andrew (Admin. by Arkyard Music Services Limited)

Kaple Music (Admin. by Bethel Music Publishing)

Bethel Music Publishing

CCLI License # 810055

Selfless

 

I like me and I’m quite sure you like you! The natural human way is to “Watch out for #1.”  Somebody gave me a paper that bears the heading “Dying to Self.”  A magnet holds it in place on the front of my refrigerator where the words on it challenge me.  Among other things it says:

• “When your advice is disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, and take it all in loving silence – that is dying to Self.”
• “When you never itch for praise after an accomplishment, when you can truly love to be unknown … that is dying to Self.”  

Tough words, aren’t they?

Here is one way that Jesus expresses a selfless life.  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." (Matthew 5:38-43, NIV)   As I read those words there is a part of me that responds by saying, “How sweetly impractical. Nobody can live that way.”  And, in saying that I sin because I am rejecting the wisdom of God!

So, how can we become selfless?

The key is to know Christ, not just as Teacher or Guide, but as Life!

Inspired by the Spirit, Paul reminds us (Christians!) that we cannot allow ourselves to keep living as those who do not know God "in the futility of their thinking.” (Ephesians 4:17-18, NIV)  So much of ‘conventional wisdom’ is formed by minds that leave God out of the picture.  Attempting to understand life and meaning without knowing that we are made to know, love, and serve God will lead us into chaos and confusion, spending our time and resources on trying to build a life that has no lasting foundation, feeling ever more hopeless. The cry of the person without hope in Christ is an echo of Solomon’s moan – “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”  If we believe we are alone in the universe, left to care for ourselves, we will find Jesus’ words naïve, a path to misery.

When we are converted and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us, we begin to understand that we are invited to be a part of God’s plan for the world.  He creates a desire in us to be used by God. When we pray “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done,” we mean it.  Our daily choices, our use of our money, our career, the way we interact with family and friend, grows out of the knowledge that we are “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” (Eph 2:10).  The person who knows his purpose understands selflessness. 

When a young person goes to see the recruiter for the military, he may have many reasons. Perhaps he’s looking for a job, or likes the idea of wearing the uniform, or thinks that he will find admiration of others. In boot camp he finds out that soldiering means being part of a unit, developing skills, and learning to take orders. The more elite the unit he joins the less of himself is allowed to exist. He learns to ‘die to self’ to that he can function effectively in the unit – learning to march, wearing a uniform.

The life of Selflessness that Jesus described allows His Light to shine through us.
“I” no longer hides “Him.” 

We cannot live as He asks purely by discipline or will. We must be changed from the inside out, loving Him so much that our devotion eclipses the impulse to protect self-interest. Jesus described the “dying to self”  in another place this way – “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)  It not all pain, certainly not all loss. Selflessness lets us find a whole new kind of joy - “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it!” (Matthew 16:25)  Selflessness makes us fruitful, but with a cost.  Again, Jesus’ words - “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24)

What is your vision, the reason you live? Is it to carve out a niche of comfort for yourself? Is it to gain security, to achieve admiration?  Or, do you live to love God? Jesus’ words that ask us to lower our self-defenses and to let Him shine are costly, but the reward is rich.

Here is a word from the Word. Spend a few moments prayerfully thinking about this passage, with the prayer that the Spirit will make this ‘living truth.’
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20, NIV)

_________________

Take My Life

(Chris Tomlin redoes the hymn and makes a beautiful prayer)

Take my life and let it be consecrated
Lord to Thee
Take my moments and my days
Let them flow in ceaseless praise

Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee 

Take my voice and let me sing
Always only for my King
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee

Take my silver and my gold
Not a mite would I withhold
Take my intellect and use
Ev'ry power as You choose

Here am I all of me
Take my life it's all for Thee 

Take my will and make it Thine
It shall be no longer mine
Take my heart it is Thine own
It shall be Thy royal throne
Take my love my Lord I pour
At Your feet its treasure store
Take myself and I will be
Ever only all for Thee

Chris Tomlin | Frances Ridley Havergal | Henri Abraham Cesar Malan | Louie Giglio

© 2003 sixsteps Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

worshiptogether.com songs (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)  CCLI License # 810055

Emotional Debt

 

Consumer debt is a tricky thing. Credit cards allow us to buy things we want today using tomorrow’s money; which not a great idea generally! Often the interest rate is high. Too many people get themselves buried in debt when they cannot pay anything but the minimum amount due. The interest continues to accumulate, compounding negatively.

Emotional debts can be like that, too. When we drag around old resentments, if we try to borrow tomorrow’s joy, we can find ourselves buried in emotional debt, a captive of unwise relational choices.

Jesus shows us a better way. In the Sermon on the Mount, we read these tough words that ask us to trust God to help us to make difficult decisions.  “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny." (Matthew 5:21-26, NIV)

The Lord reminds us that keeping our emotional accounts settled up is a critically important choice. We cannot justify our hate, our resentment, our bitterness towards others by saying, “Well, I didn’t kill them; even though I wish I could!”  He tells us that allowing ourselves to think of others with contempt is emotionally corrosive and drags us from God’s Holy Presence.

I can hear the objections that you are starting to raise. 
“But, Jerry, you don’t know that idiot I married; the pain he brought into my life.” I don’t but I’m sorry, truly.
Or worse, “Jerry, you don’t know how it feels to be the victim of a sexual predator.” I don’t and my heart breaks for that person who carries such a wound. 
“Jerry, you never met my boss. She never lets up on the criticism, making my life miserable.”  I feel for you, too, really!   

Carrying on life while hating that person who hurt you, refusing to let the debt go, makes the pain constant.

Jesus says that we, God’s children, can make a different choice - to forgive.  When we come to worship and memory of that old enemy comes to mind, He says, “Deal with it. Don’t put it off.”  We have the ability to choose in the matter of forgiveness. Our decision to forgive others not only gets us out of emotional debt, it also pleases God. Jesus taught us that “In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part." (Matthew 6:14-15, The Message)

Let me be clear. Forgiveness is not minimizing our pain, pretending that what happened to us does not matter, or trying to just ‘forget it.’  When Christians forgive, they release the debt of another to God, trusting His justice.

What does that kind of forgiveness look like?

It is modeled on God’s forgiveness!
God actively pursued sinful humanity. He entered the world, Jesus, God in flesh, to save the world from sin. Love was His sole motive. We forgive for love’s sake, actively letting offense go, and, where possible, pursuing reconciliation.

Forgiveness is not the same as reconciliation.
To live in peace with God we receive forgiveness and grace that leads to genuine repentance.  That allows us to be reconciled to our Father in Heaven, loving Him, knowing Him, living close to Him. Sometimes those we forgive do not change their ways, refuse to respond to our offer of grace. In that situation we need not feel guilty. Forgiveness is an individual's choice. Reconciliation requires active participation of both the offended and the offender.

Forgiveness cannot be conditional. 
Christians sometimes attempt a kind of half-forgiveness. “I’ll just ignore the offender. I won’t try to punish them but I’ll put them on probation.”  God does not put us on spiritual probation just watching for us to slip up again. The Scripture says that “He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  True forgiveness does not hold onto the debt or sabotage relationships.

Forgiveness is a process, not an event.
Forgiveness is an individual choice to give our hurt, our sense of debt, to God and trust Him for perfect justice! In that choice, we release the other person discover freedom from our anger. It is possible that we will feel the old hurt again, that the resentment will creep back into our mind. If it does, we forgive again… and again … in Jesus’ words “70x7!”

Are you buried in emotional debt? Do you find your joy sabotaged by resentment towards another, your ability to form loving relationships with people hindered by memories of past hurts?  Are you feuding with someone, offended by another's actions, dealing with anxiety over an unresolved dispute?   

Jesus says that the Spirit in us makes a new way possible – the way of forgiveness. It’s not easy, nor is it a ‘once and done’ moment. In the struggle to forgive you may find yourself praying in tears, asking the Holy Spirit to soften your heart. Tell Him how you feel, what you feel, why you think you're feeling that way.  Choose the path of discipleship, the Jesus Way, and "bless those who curse you!"   When you give the debt you carry to Him, a new sweetness of spirit will grow in you.  You will be free to be loving like our Father in Heaven.

Here's a word from the Word to ponder today.  It’s a story Jesus told about being forgiven and becoming one who forgives.  "Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No!” Jesus replied, “seventy times seven!" “For this reason, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so the king ordered that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt. But the man fell down before the king and begged him, ‘Oh, sir, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then the king was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and jailed until the debt could be paid in full. “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him what had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison until he had paid every penny. “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters in your heart.”
(Matthew 18:21-35, NLT)

___________

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

(This hymn is one of profound faith that makes forgiveness possible.)

 

O love that will not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in Thee.

I give Thee back the life I owe,

That in Thine ocean depths its flow,

May richer fuller be.

 

O Light that followest all my way

I yield my flickering torch to Thee

My heart restores its borrowed ray

That in Thy sunshine's blaze its day

May brighter fairer be

 

O joy that seekest me through pain,

I cannot close my heart to Thee.

I trace the rainbow through the rain,

And feel the promise is not vain,

That morn shall tearless be.

 

O cross that lifted up my head,

I dare not ask to fly from Thee.

I lay in dust life's glory dead,

And from the ground there blossoms red,

Life that shall endless be.

 

Matheson, George / Peace, Albert Lister

© Public Domain