giving where it hurts

Ok, it is a very unpopular topic, and when it is brought up it is either danced around lightly or smashed into your face with a heavy, blunt object. What topic is that? Money.

Many times people point casually to the Bible and ramble something about tithing, or perhaps they prepare a catastrophic scriptural assault that leaves the audience bloody and beaten with trample marks of "10%". Personally, I think either approach is horrible and quite honestly not even close to being Christ-like. Jesus touted a very unique version of giving - he gave where it was needed, not out of obedience to rules or to formulas, but out of love. As such, Christian giving should be 3 things (at least): generous, humble, and loving.

By being generous, a Christian should give what is needed and more according to what they are able. In Mark 14:41-44, Jesus points out to his disciples a poor woman who gave all she had, and praises her above others who gave out of wealth. This is not to say that all should give up everything, but that giving is not something that should be weighed and measured. By claiming that we should all give 10%, we set a bar that for some is too high and for others too low and for both it highlights their status.

To be humble, a Christian should not drawn attention to their giving. In Matthew 6:1-4, Jesus encourages that charity and good deeds should not be done so as to drawn attention to yourself. He actually goes to the other extreme and encourages that things be done in secret. In being humble, we know that we do good things for love of our neighbor and of God, not for our own gain. I actually love the example that can be found in the book I just read, Joshua. At one point in the book, Joshua buys an extremely poor family about $75 worth of groceries (of his $100 that was to go towards his own bills) in return for their kindness to him. You see the family had no money to buy groceries, the cupboards were all empty, and yet they shared with him the raspberries they had picked for breakfast and gave him a jar of raspberry jam out of sheer love for him. And yet, he didn't want them or anyone else to know he had bought them groceries - so he asked the shopkeeper to keep it a secret and deliver the groceries himself, with merely an anonymous note of thanks in the bag. In this way, he helped the family through a rough patch, saved them from any major embarrassment, and eventually came up with the money to pay his own bills.

Giving out of love was a bit more difficult to find an example of in scripture, but I think a good one would be a combination of Luke 7:36-50 and John 12:1-8. In Luke, a sinful woman washes and anoints Jesus' feet with tears and perfume (probably all she had) because of her great love for him. In John, the same story is recounted but this time it is revealed that the perfume is very expensive and Judas balks because he thinks it should have been sold and the money given to the poor. Sure she could have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor, but she instead gave what she had to Jesus out of love for him and to take care of him. One question I have heard asked is why did she wash his feet? And rightfully so, the answer is typically, Jesus walked everywhere so his feet would be tired, dirty, and perhaps a bit rank. A gracious host would usually provide a servant to clean the feet of his guests after a long journey, which this host did not. Something more relevant to today might be, knowing that a friend is working long hours to make ends meet, and offering to clean their home or maintain their yard, etc while they get on top of their finances. Out love you give some of your time, to give them back some of theirs, and it avoids embarrassment of outright offering money.

In short (yeah I know, ha ha, it's not really short by now), Christians shouldn't being budgeting and calculating how to give, we should be prepared to give at a moments notice wherever the need arises and for whatever amount in whatever form is needed. I truly believe that God works through people everyday, and that we will find ourselves in places where we are needed if we only take the time to pay attention.

Here is a little story I just heard this weekend from a friend's father (for sake of anonymity, I'll call him Joe), I think it shows off some excellent spontaneous Christian giving. Joe and his wife were on a vacation cruise in the Western Caribbean, where one of the shore excursions was to Roatan, Honduras. Roatan is a very small, very poor island off the coast of Honduras, essentially the cruise company paid to install the port which helped boost the local economy and provided a rustic, tropical location for cruises. Upon leaving the ship and walking along the docks to explore the village, a boy ran up to them and said, "Hello, my name is Georgie and I'll be your guide today." Joe was a bit skeptical and asked, "and what will it cost me for you to be my guide today?" Georgie sheepishly admitted, "It cost you maybe $2.50?" Joe agreed and Georgie took them around the village, and of course insisted that Joe buy something from his aunt's shop (which he did). At the end of the day it was time to settle up with Georgie, so Joe asked again, "Ok Georgie, what do I owe you?" Georgie beamed and said, "$3.00?" Joe good-naturedly responded, "Wait a minute Georgie, I thought before you said $2.50? What's the story here, tell me about the town and your family." Georgie went on to explain that since tourism was really the only way to make money to survive on the small island, he and other children try to help their families (of which he had 5 or 6 siblings) by being guides. Joe was very touched by the boy's honesty and could see the truth in the situation being that everything seemed to revolve around catering to the visiting tourists. Joe then thanked Georgie for his help, and proceeded to hand him $20. Georgie was shocked, and held the bill up in the air gazing it at it - he was very likely the richest boy in town that day. When Joe recounted this story to me, he told me that in retrospect he wished he could have given Georgie $50.

Could I be cynical and think that Georgie was just pumping people for money - sure, but then why only ask for a simple $2 or $3 at the beginning? When I first heard the story, my cynical side never showed its ugly head, I was simply touched by the generous and loving attitude that was shown to someone who could have easily been overlooked or dismissed.