I have 4 words pinned on my bulletin board at work that remind me of how to stay spiritually strong and healthy. These words are: prayer, study, giving, and fellowship. These are areas that I can always improve, and I use them to check myself--to make sure I'm putting forth the effort on my end to work on my relationship with Jesus.
I may decide to do a blog on each one of these topics, and it would make sense to start with the first one, prayer, but today I'm going to skip a couple and talk about giving. When I think of giving, I think not only of financial giving, but also of giving services. These services can range anywhere from listening and attending to someone who needs to talk all the way to manual labor.
We know that God calls us to give. This command is brought up multiple times throughout the Bible. But why? Is it just because it sounds nice? Christians should be good people and good people help each other? I believe it's more than that. I believe when God created us and our lives, He purposefully created us to depend on others. From the very beginning of our lives we cannot exist without others. We need two people to conceive us, we need a mother's womb to grow in, and then we need someone to feed us, clothes us, and comfort us. Just because we grow up and learn skills to do things on our own, doesn't mean we no longer need other people. We need people to care for us and about us. We need support, love, and friendship. And some things in life, we simply cannot do on our own. Yes, I believe we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Phil 4:13), but I believe part of God's provision for us is through other people. And just as we each need others, others need us as well.
One night, while Scott & I were reading the Bible together, I had a vision of a large web-like structure. It reminded me of a brainstorming technique for writing papers, where you start with your topic in the center circle, then you draw lines out of it, connecting to other circles that are sub-points or supporting 
evidence for your main topic. (Note the image) And I was thinking that in our lives, we often think of ourselves as being at the center. It's pretty difficult to not be "self-centered" in this way because our own lives are all we really know--it's all we live and experience. Then we may draw our lines to circles including friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, etc... These are the people who impact our lives, and likely whose lives we impact as well. But there is way more to the picture than that little scope we can easily see. Each circle has its own lines connecting to other circles. The circle for my mom, for instance, would have it's own lines coming off connecting to my siblings, her husband, her coworkers, etc... And you could just shift your view to her circle and see a whole new set of connections. And you could do that with any circle. So, while our own circle seems to be in the center in our minds, really there is no center. It's all connected in this massive, interlocking web. And I think of God as being above all the circles in this web, with a direct connection to everyone individually, as well as the web as a whole.
evidence for your main topic. (Note the image) And I was thinking that in our lives, we often think of ourselves as being at the center. It's pretty difficult to not be "self-centered" in this way because our own lives are all we really know--it's all we live and experience. Then we may draw our lines to circles including friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, etc... These are the people who impact our lives, and likely whose lives we impact as well. But there is way more to the picture than that little scope we can easily see. Each circle has its own lines connecting to other circles. The circle for my mom, for instance, would have it's own lines coming off connecting to my siblings, her husband, her coworkers, etc... And you could just shift your view to her circle and see a whole new set of connections. And you could do that with any circle. So, while our own circle seems to be in the center in our minds, really there is no center. It's all connected in this massive, interlocking web. And I think of God as being above all the circles in this web, with a direct connection to everyone individually, as well as the web as a whole.
What does the image imply? Well, to me, it means that each individual life in this world depends on the lives of other individuals. And it doesn't stop there. While we may not be directly connected to someone, our web interlocks with their's somewhere down the line. And if you plucked one person out, it would affect the entire web. That may seem extreme because people die all the time and it doesn't directly impact us, but I believe in some subtle way we all impact the whole world. That might sound CRAZY and like I'm going off into some kind of weird branch of spirituality or something, but I'm saying all this to emphasize the fact that our lives here on this Earth are not meant for us alone. We are supposed to serve and give to others because they depend on it and so do we. We depend on others to help us, and we also gain a lot by giving.
Giving to others brings us closer to God. Our actions are pleasing to Him, and He will bless us for them.
Proverbs 22:9: A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.
Hebrews 13:16: And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Giving is also a way of serving God. We are commanded to love God and love others, and loving others is a direct reflection of God's love and how much we love Him. To truly love someone, even if they aren't easy to love, is a love from the Father. To give to someone who may not appreciate it, repay you, or deserve your help, is a demonstration of God's love. So, this all means that giving is a way of sharing the Gospel. Telling people the Good News of Jesus is certainly a great way of spreading the Gospel, but to really let people see and understand what that Gospel looks like, often requires action.
1 John 3: 17-18: If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
And while giving surely brings blessings upon the giver, that should not be our motivation for giving. It's really hard not to expect gratitude, recognition, or returned favors when we give to someone. Even if they can't pay us back, we generally expect them to at least say thank you or make some sort of gesture of gratitude. Or sometimes we do things to help others and we go completely unnoticed. It's hard not to try to draw attention to ourselves so that we can get that recognition we feel we deserve. But God calls us to give freely and cheerfully, with no expectations of returns.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7: Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Luke 6:35: But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Matthew 6:3-43: 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.
Proverbs 22:9: A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.
Hebrews 13:16: And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Giving is also a way of serving God. We are commanded to love God and love others, and loving others is a direct reflection of God's love and how much we love Him. To truly love someone, even if they aren't easy to love, is a love from the Father. To give to someone who may not appreciate it, repay you, or deserve your help, is a demonstration of God's love. So, this all means that giving is a way of sharing the Gospel. Telling people the Good News of Jesus is certainly a great way of spreading the Gospel, but to really let people see and understand what that Gospel looks like, often requires action.
1 John 3: 17-18: If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
And while giving surely brings blessings upon the giver, that should not be our motivation for giving. It's really hard not to expect gratitude, recognition, or returned favors when we give to someone. Even if they can't pay us back, we generally expect them to at least say thank you or make some sort of gesture of gratitude. Or sometimes we do things to help others and we go completely unnoticed. It's hard not to try to draw attention to ourselves so that we can get that recognition we feel we deserve. But God calls us to give freely and cheerfully, with no expectations of returns.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7: Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Luke 6:35: But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Matthew 6:3-43: 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.
This is challenging for me. I love to give, but part of that is because I love the feeling I get afterwards. I crave the recognition. I don't necessarily want a returned favor or payment, but I want to be thanked and I want to be acknowledged for my goodness. But that's just my pride sneaking up on me. My challenge for myself now, is to give more freely, and not seek out those affirmations. I know that my actions are pleasing to God, and that should be enough.
Giving brings forth blessings, togetherness and love with others, it makes the "world go 'round," so to speak, and it brings us closer to God. We are acting in His love, with His Holy Spirit working through us and guiding us, and we are following His commands of loving God and loving others. I've found that when I'm seeking a passionate relationship with God for my own good and for that fluttery, feel-good feeling that it brings, I often fall short of what I want. But when I seek God in order to be used by Him to help others, I am closer to Him that I ever expected. Our pastor Brandon Williams at Connection Church once said in a sermon, "Our purpose in life is founded in someone else's need." I believe this whole-heartedly. I challenge myself to act on this belief, and I challenge you to ask God to guide you and use you to serve others as well.
In His Love,
~Christy
Wow! Even though I was there when you had this thought, it's really cool and impressive to see it expanded on and developed! I couldn't agree more, great post! I love you:)
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