The One Who Gave Generously
*Visit FrugalLivingNW for the corresponding post.
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I had a full morning. I traveled to Romania, Moldova, India, Uganda, Mozambique, Mexico and finally back to New Orleans. When I arrived back home and held my healthy, clean, beautiful children, it was all I could do not to burst into tears. I walked through my home, taking in the beauty, the luxury, the comfort. And as soon as my kids went down for naps, I got out my laptop, pulled up the Patterson Family Budget in Excel, and began brainstorming ways to reduce the amount in 14 categories in order to increase the amount in one category. That one category? Giving.
As I mentioned in the FrugalLivingNW article, one of the keys to giving generously is to expose ourselves to real need.
My morning’s world travels were just that. An exposure to real need. In reality I just visited the Real. Life. Exhibit in Tigard, Oregon, a multi-sensory exhibit by Medical Teams International that allows people to see what real life is like for children exposed to disaster, conflict, and poverty. From the unthinkable terrors of the “Lord’s Resistance Army” to the hopeless destitution of Romanian orphanages to the perpetuating poverty of those who live in the garbage dumps of Mexico City, this exhibit is a powerful reminder that we live in a world in dire need of Christ’s hope. And, they are making a difference through showing the love of God in tangible ways–disaster relief, medical services and training, and medical supplies distribution. They are giving generously in every way.
And they are simply following in the footsteps of the One Who Gave Generously.
Of course, Christ is the supreme example of one who gave generously.
He gave His life. He gave us life.
When we look at Christ and look at the world it really becomes quite simple. When I look at Christ I see that love held Him on the cross. He gave His life for me. In response I joyfully offer my life to serve Him. When I look at the world I see pain, suffering, disaster, poverty. I see that these are people for whom Christ died. If I am a Christian (literally a “little Christ”), and He died for these people, certainly I go without a Latte for these people.
I mentioned in the FrugalLivingNW article that Americans spend $3 BILLION on chewing gum, a non-nutritive substance. Add to that $26 BILLION on soda, and $18 BILLION on coffee. Visiting this exhibit reminded me that it is SO easy to make a difference. We just have to do it. And the powerful truth is that when we serve these people we are serving Christ Himself, the One who gave His life, the One who gave us life. Want to hear it straight from His mouth? Consider His words:
34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Matthew 25:31-46
Does anyone else just want to weep when they read that? Every time I read that passage it brings me to my knees. Read it again.
The Gospel has implications for social justice.
“If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warm and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” James 2:15-16 (italics mine)
If the world is ever going to listen to our message, they must first be absolutely convinced of our love.
Friends, we must continue to be diligent about exposing ourselves to real need. I’m the first to confess that every month when the Voice of the Martyrs magazine arrives I want to hide it under the sofa. My flesh doesn’t want to be reminded of the suffering around the world. I’d rather curl up on the couch with Real Simple and learn new tricks for organizing all the stuff I have. But every time we let our hearts to be cracked a tiny bit, we allow God to flow through the broken places and touch people with His love and grace.
In the FrugalLivingNW article, we talked about giving creatively. Here is a phenomenal way to take your family through 14 days of creative giving. We just started this, and it’s such a fabulous way to teach children, encourage compassion, and stimulate creativity in ways to give.
There are so many wonderful organizations that are making a huge difference in the lives of those affected by poverty, disaster, conflict. Please take a moment and look at some of these, or consider others you may know of. I pray that we would not be guilty of pinching our pennies only to find we missed the whole point all along. I pray we would never be guilty of an empty blessing, “be warm and filled…”–without handing over our coats and our bread.
* Do you have creative ways to inspire your family to giving? Please share!
- Medical Teams International
- World Vision
- Compassion International
- Africa New Life
- Open Arms International
- Gospel For Asia (I love this one, if you go to the “store” you can buy things for the people in Asia–chickens, rabbits, goats, a Jesus well that can provide water for a whole village. When I did the clothing fast, we were able to use the money saved/raised to buy a well! It’s amazing. My brother always asks for chickens and rabbits for Christmas.
- Next Generation Ministries Uganda
The One Who Spent Wisely
- He fasted for 40 days. Now that would save some money! See how well that goes over with your husband: “Sorry, honey there’s no food in the house. We’re not going to eat until October.” Hmm… In all seriousness, though. Jesus was not consumed by food. SO MUCH of what we buy is to satisfy our need to munch, not to provide real nutritional benefit. We’ll talk on Thursday about the 6 billion dollars that Americans spend on gum. If we just cut out all non-nutritious items, I think we’d be amazed at how our spending decreases. Similarly, Jesus showed us that man does not live by bread alone. Meaning, we would be wise to learn to turn to God before we turn to food. Had a bad day? Skip the candy bar and pull out God’s Word. Even last night, as I was trying to write a post, I felt frustrated that nothing was coming out right and so I found myself super craving cookies. Isn’t that crazy? I realized it was because of stress that I was craving, not hunger. I skipped it and stuck with the post and was so thankful for the results. I don’t always make the right choice, but if we did this more often our budgets (and our waistlines) would thank us. When we go without, just a tiny bit, we allow God to show us that He, not food, is our master and sustainer.
- He stretched food. Now, I understand that taking a few loaves and fishes and feeding 5-10,000 people is a miracle that we are not likely to duplicate. But, I do believe that we can pray for God to bless and break our food and multiply it to feed many mouths for his glory. I have been amazed over and over how God multiplies our food when I actually let Him. That means making a choice not to hoard, but instead stretching yourself in such a way that you actually have to ask for God’s stretching power. So many times I’ve decided to challenge ourselves and try to make it one week longer in my monthly grocery shopping (like this month, I’m currently 10 days past “grocery day”!). Without fail I’ll be surprised by Jeff bringing home leftover pizza, or our church food ministry sending home some expiring food that they didn’t want to go to waste, or someone inviting us over for dinner, or unearthing something unexpected from the freezer. Now our goal in this isn’t to be cheap and miserly so that we can hoard money–I certainly don’t think God will honor that heart. But what if we really did lift all our food up to Him and ask Him to stretch it all for His glory? We might view food in a different light–as a sacred gift.
And on a more serious note, consider the way He spent His time and His energies (because as we saw in the FrugalLiving article, how we spend our time and energy is just as important as how we spend our money):
- He knew when to hold back. Jesus is an excellent example of boundaries. When ministry was busy, He often went alone to a secluded place to pray. Jesus knew when to give and when to get alone. That is giving wisely. In the midst of our busy schedules and bargain hunting, we must know when the wisest thing is to shut the computer, forget the deal, and get alone with God.
- He didn’t waste. A tricky exhortation is Matthew 7:6 where Jesus tells us not to throw pearls to pigs. In other words, don’t invest your time and energy in people or endeavors which will be fruitless. Now this is tricky, of course, because we don’t always know. But the principle is helpful, and as we ask Jesus for wisdom, He will help us to discern when what we’re spending our time, money, and energy on, is in fact a worthwhile investment or or when it’s a foolish waste of our precious resources. Sometimes for me all it takes is a step back, a quick prayer for wisdom, and a dose of perspective to see whether all the time spent bargain-shopping is really worth the time and energy. Life is short. Let’s not waste a minute of it.
- He fulfilled His civic duties in light of His spiritual duties. Jesus paid his taxes (Matthew 22:21). However, He calls us to something far greater than simply handing over our income tax. He asks for our whole life, given over to Him. We are image-bearers of God, so we are His. When we spend our lives wisely for His glory, we simply fulfill what we were created to do.
- He got ticked when religion was corrupted by commercialism (Matthew 21:12). This is a serious warning for today’s church. If we reduce Christianity to the buying and selling of religious goods and services, using spirituality for one’s own material gain, we are certainly not spending wisely, and reducing God’s house to a den of robbers. This is probably another topic altogether, but worth noting.
Bottom line? Spending wisely is using all that we have for the glory of God. It means stretching our food so we can do more with what He’s given us. And what is the more that He’s calling us to do? More on that Thursday as we look at how Jesus models giving generously.
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*How has the life of Christ inspired your spending habits? How do you make every cent count? I’d love to hear.
The One Who Was Content
*Visit FrugalLivingNW for today’s cooresponding post.
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We’ve been looking at contentment for some time now. We were Camping on Contentment for a week or so, and now here we are, digging around again for this elusive quality we all seek but cannot seem to really grasp. Thankfully, Jesus sums it all up for us and turns our world upside down.
I admit it seems odd to think of Jesus as an example of contentment. I mean, if I was God I’d probably be content too, right? Most of the things that drive me crazy have to do with not being in control, not knowing what’s going on, or not being able to juggle all the crazy busy things in my life all at once. So, things like omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence would really come in handy. I’d be able to turn a glass of water on my nightstand into a Frappucino, know where that missing library book went, and go grocery shopping without ever leaving the house. Seems to me that under those conditions contentment wouldn’t be so tough.
But in all seriousness, the secret to true contentment comes from The One Who is contentment, who is peace, who is joy. In fact, He summed it up for us in a sentence. A mere 67 characters–nothing more than a tweet. Here I’ve been blithering for weeks and Jesus puts an end to it all and simply says,
“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39
See, here’s the problem. We’re all seeking the wrong thing, and it’s painfully counterproductive. We’re all seeking contentment. We’re all seeking life. And specifically, we’re all seeking our best life now.
Now yes, our discontentment often stems from what we discussed in the FrugalLivingNW article: commercials and advertisements, glossy magazine pages, emails alerting us to deals. But what’s at the root of those things? Why are we so tempted by them? Why do they make us long and yearn for what they sell? Why do their advertising gimmicks work so stinkin’ well?
Because we’re seeking our best life now. And as long as we seek our life, our best life now, Jesus says we will lose it. We’ll lose contentment, lose our peace, lose our joy.
The problem is not the magazines, the emails, the billboards, the TV ads. The problem is in our hearts.
Because deep in our hearts we’ve bought the lie that this is what really matters. That this home, this body, this face, this career, this time and place is what really matters. So we’ve given our lives to pursue the perfection of those things, and in the process we’ve forfeited our souls (Matthew 8:36). We’ve forfeited our peace. We’ve forfeited our contentment.
“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39
Then what would it look like to lose our lives? Jesus gave us an example. He left his home in heaven, his perfect communion with the Father, his glory and honor, his rights and divine privileges. He left his comfort, his reputation, his praise. He left perfection to enter our imperfection. In short, He left everything. He didn’t come to earth to seek His life, He came to lose it, that we might find life in Him.
So how are we to lose our lives? Just aimlessly begin giving up stuff and denying ourselves in order to derive some sick pleasure? Religious masochists, is that right? Not at all. The key, again, Jesus sums up in three little words.
For my sake.
Our goal isn’t finding life. Our goal isn’t simply losing life. Our goal isn’t merely contentment. Our goal is Christ. We lose our lives and find them hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3). That is where life is found. That is where contentment is found. That is where peace and joy and abundance are found. A new pair of peep-toes are a pitiful substitution for the infinite pleasures of the Savior. As CS Lewis said,
If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at sea. We are far to easily pleased.
Contentment isn’t about not wanting stuff. It’s about wanting infinitely more than any earthly store could ever offer. It isn’t about aimlessly denying ourselves, it’s about letting go of life in a joyful pursuit of something greater. It’s seeking true life, found in Christ. The temptations are rendered powerless because a greater desire trumps them all. On the drive to my favorite Thai restaurant I would never be tempted to stop off and eat a donut from the 7-11. Something far greater is in store.
And something far greater is in store. Not just in eternity, but today. We rise above the earthly lure of wealth and material possessions by living for something greater than our best life now. Christ’s fame, Christ’s mission, Christ’s Kingdom. We seek contentment to glorify God. We save our nickels and dimes so we can spend them wisely, on that which really matters.
More on that tomorrow. Today, remember Jesus’ tweet:
“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39
Frugal Fridays: Fandango for Free!
You know me, I’m a sucker for 1) series and 2) alliteration. So, in honor of both, and my ongoing fondness of frugality (there I did it again), we’ll begin Frugal Fridays, a brief look at ways to cut spending, save money, and invest in what really matters.
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Tonight Jeff and I are having a date night! Yes, a real date night! For our date, we’re heading to see Inception. I think we’re the only people left on the planet who haven’t seen it. The last movie we saw in the theater was Up, about a year and a half ago, so we’re due for a good flick. And, thanks to FrugalLivingNW, I snagged a free movie ticket through Fandango. The process was easy, and after we use our ticket I can cancel our 3-day free trial and not spend a dime! Now that’s a hot date.
Speaking of FrugalLivingNW, I have the huge honor of writing a 4-part series for this phenomenal couponing blog. The series will run Mon-Thur of this coming week. So head on over, check out her great deals, and stay tuned for this special series. Have a great weekend!