2207AFC021822 – We give up!
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1 Corinthians 15:20-22 – 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. 21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; 22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:49 – 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Psalm 103:2-5 – 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Luke 6:35b-38 – Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.
Some days are better than others, right? Still, a Christian life can be an exceptional life, right? Here is some advice for men and women about taking steps toward this kind of exceptional life from 2 Peter 1: 3-8 – 3 His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. 5 For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. 8 For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hm. Wow! What shall we give? How about Love?
You read the passage from Luke. What’s the main point there? I’d sum it up this way: Be like God – generous, kind, forgiving, all without reciprocation; all for unrequited Love from your neighbor. Belovéd, that takes a lot of Love!! Here’s an example:
You might know that there are some people in the world that should not be allowed to own or operate a leaf-blower or a weed-whacker, and definitely not both. Yet we probably all know the neighbor that blow-dries his pickup truck, mows his half-acre lawn with a week-whacker right after a heavy rain, and then blows the wet grass cuttings into the flowerbeds. And then the echo comes to mind ,” 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. 
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Yes, it can be hard, no wait, that is really hard! But look at all the good things God has given you, and your neighbor too. He has those things – pickup truck, weed-whacker, leaf-blower. Maybe we do, too, but use them differently. Is patience and understanding too much to give? From what I know about God and giving, I think not.
By now ya’ll know I’m having a hectic week. I’ve lost count of the healthcare appointments Crucita and I have been to in the last 14 days. I’m going to do something I rarely do – start up a rerun. Here’s how I want to set it up:
| The Measure of Giving and of Return Your measure |
Your return | God’s next step |
| A thimble | A thimbleful brimming over | A teacup |
| A teacup | Overflowing into the saucer | A coffee mug |
| A coffee mug | “Bottomless” refills | A stewing pot |
| A stewing pot | Add a sauce pan | A horse & cattle trough |
| A horse & cattle trough | Includes a windmill pump | A tanker truck |
| A tanker truck | A double tanker truck | A boxcar |
| A boxcar | Double-stacked three packs | A cargo ship |
| A cargo ship | AFRAMAX (↔ Click Link) | An Ultra-super-tanker ship |
| You get the idea! If you give what you get, you get what you give, only you get more of it for giving next. | ||
Now, I ask you to either finish reading this excerpt from 1451AFC121914 – Generous Helpings, or use the link to go back to 2014 and reread that post. I hope to be able to get back on track in about three weeks, so “keep those cards and letters coming!” Here’s the excerpt:
Proverbs 11:24-25 – One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.
2 Corinthians 9:7 – Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Patience; kindness; generosity; humility; courtesy; unselfishness; good-temper; guilelessness; sincerity–these make up the supreme gift, the stature of the perfect man. The most obvious lesson in Christ’s teaching is that there is no happiness in having or getting anything, but only in giving. ~ Henry Drummond
Happiness is not in having what you want. It is in wanting what you have. Use of our spiritual and temporal gifts must be based on prudent stewardship and not on selfish motivations.
I have delivered that line hundreds and hundreds of times, in fact that short paragraph is part of my personal Mission Statement. You can see the whole thing online by following that link. I think it is an important distinction to understand; getting what you want is nowhere near as fulfilling as giving others what they need. Another adage that comes up often in what I write is
Always seek,
Expect to receive,
And accept
The Greater Gift.
What is the greater gift? It is the Joy of giving. Paul is recorded as having said in Acts 20:35 – In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive'” Some of you may wish to point out that there is no quote exactly like that in any of the Gospels. That’s OK because in the Gospel of John, the author himself tells us that not everything Jesus said or did was written down. Besides, Paul did actually meet Jesus, so who knows? Surely the awareness that Jesus held the gift of giving in high esteem is a reasonable inference from what we have of his teaching. There are few instances of the words generous or generosity in the Bible, and perhaps the most noteworthy is in Paul’s list of the Fruit of the Spirit. In the King James Version of the Bible, these words are phrased as “Dealt graciously,” “has done good to me,” or just “good.” (See Matthew 20:15 for example).
Generosity is something God understands very well. I have mentioned previously that the “famous Bible verse” about God’s generosity isn’t actually in the Bible. What is that verse? It is “God will not be outdone in generosity.” While it is true, it is not stated directly in the Bible. It is God’s own pattern of behavior. God is capable of awe-inspiring generosity, as scripture itself attests in so many places. He is teaching that they will have their needs met and more. His provisioning for believers covers not only supplying their needs, but also increasing their righteousness. Paul challenges them – and us – to emulate God’s generosity and reminds them that God’s goodness is the basis for great encouragement: God himself cannot be outdone because he is infinitely good, gracious, and does only good to those who love him; in fact he is so generous, he does good even to those who do not love him because ” … he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45) That includes me, you, and the guy with the leaf-flower.
Generosity seems to me to be a natural part of human nature. We often see it in babies and toddlers when a small child spontaneously offers to share food or toys with a parent, a sibling, or another toddler. They know what it means to be taken care of, and in their innocence, they return that caring – often with complete strangers. Somewhere along the line we learn to be selfish, and that pretty much puts an end to our spontaneous generosity; we have to relearn it, and we relearn it by being grateful. We are enriched by blessings, and especially enriched by bestowing blessings for “one who waters will himself be watered.”
Do you give of your surplus instead of sacrificially? Have you felt the Spirit reaching into your wallet, moving things around on your calendar, or prompting you to do good to “even to the least of these?” If you and I feel we have stopped that Spiritual inclination, perhaps it’s time to be humbled and to let God know how grateful we are for all his Good Gifts. Remember “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed”. (Proverbs 19:17), for truly Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. How much is enough and how much is too much? Better to ask, “How much is too little?” Turn your eyes upon Jesus for the answer to that one. We must give up to the Lord all that we are, and have, and plan to be. Our thoughts, words, deeds, works, prayers, sufferings, joys, sorrows, victories, defeats, fears and anxieties, our heart’s desires, everything we do and everything we fail to do – all without judgment or condemnation. Meditate on the JOY that could bring to our lives. Jesus himself told us, 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. (See Luke 14:33) Remember this? “Any of the things you have that you can give away are your possessions. Everything you cannot give away possesses you.” (~ after Andre Gide) Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits. The BEST of those benefits is that all will be made alive in Christ so that Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. Everything else is just not worth getting all jammed up about. It’s far better to repent and believe (LIVE!) the Gospel.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
