What's the REAL reason?

I recently read an article about motivations for generosity. It was a very interesting discussion of why we give, why we tip, and just overall what are the motivations for people to give. Among the theories discussed were the ideas that we give to protect an image we have of ourselves or because of an expectation that the giving will be reciprocated. It reminded me of one of my favorite episodes of FRIENDS:



Joey's theory of giving is pretty comprehensive. According to him, even the fact that giving makes us feel good makes it selfish. "There are no selfless good deeds," he says.

So why do we give? Why do you give? What's the real reason? And are there selfless good deeds?

This idea is nothing new. Jesus acknowledged it long ago, when he talked about our tendency to love those who will love us back. He was at a dinner being given by a prominent religious leader, and he noticed a lot of self-serving behavior. And he made this comment to the host:

When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.

- Luke 14:12-14

And thus we see what Jesus brings to the table. His kingdom turns our world system on its ear. Psychology and even common sense says that everything we do has a selfish aspect. Joey on FRIENDS is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but even he picked up on it.

But Jesus says, no. That's not how his followers are to live. We are to give to those who cannot possibly repay us. We are to be generous when there is no benefit for us. He even says not to let the left hand know what the right hand is doing (Matthew 6:3) - a reference to making sure we are not even congratulating ourselves internally. And, "if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?" (Matthew 5:46) He's very clear. The mark of his kingdom is a whole new way of thinking.

Easy? Heck, no. Possible? Joey is probably right - not in our own strength. But when the resurrection power of Jesus lives in you, the impossible becomes possible.

We love, not to make him love us, but because he loved us. And that's a radical thing.

Creation: a reminder to give

Why do we work?

You might say that it is so we can produce something that the world needs. You might say that it is to give us a sense of accomplishment. You might say that it's so we can have the chance to interact with other people on a regular basis.

You might say any one of those things, and you would be right to a degree. But most people would simply say, "So I can make money."

And that is true. But Paul said something in Ephesians that might surprise you:

Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. (Ephesians 4:28, NIV, emphasis mine)

Interesting. Being productive is there. So is getting something out of it. But the reason for earning money? According to this Scripture, it's in order to put us in position to be generous.

It's not just an isolated passage. All through the Bible we see people of God who were blessed for one reason - so they could be a blessing. Abraham. Moses. David. Solomon.........all received incredible blessings from God but the reason was so they could be a part of his master plan.

So why are you blessed? (And make no mistake - almost everyone who reads this, especially if they're an American, is in the top echelons  or so of the world's wealth.) The Bible gives us one reason. And it so we should ask ourselves every day how we can be a blessing to someone else.

I actually got to thinking about this while reading a book by the founder of Chick-fil-A, Truett Cathy. Mr. Cathy has been blessed with an incredibly successful franchise, founded and built through hard work and adherence to Biblical principles. To share his insights, he wrote a book recently called Wealth: Is It Worth It? Here is the excerpt that got me thinking:

The whole world around us is a reminder to give. Why did God create trees? To give us shelter, fruit, timber, and oxygen. The ground, the stars, the moon, the cattle in the fields - all of them were created to give. Likewise, we were created to give. That's why we experience so much joy when we give generously.

What a wonderful picture! God has created a wonderfully rich universe. Sun, moon, stars, air, water, animals, plants...I could go on and on. Out of his infinite riches God has created everything around us in order to give, give, give. And they all scream at us, "YOU give too!"

There are so many in need. And God has blessed us with so much. In the Ephesians passage, he tells us that the reason to work is so that we will have resources to help others. May God grant us all the wisdom to follow his example, and the faith to trust that when we do so he will take care of our needs.

Expressing Thanksgiving

When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²¹ When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. (Deuteronomy 24:19-21)

Reading this Scripture, the very word harvest conjures up images of Thanksgiving, doesn't it? Something about the roots of this uniquely American holiday: Pilgrims, American Indians, fall, and yes, the harvest. How does the hymn go?

Come, ye thankful people, come, 
 raise the song of harvest home; 
 all is safely gathered in, 
 ere the winter storms begin. 
 God our Maker doth provide 
 for our wants to be supplied; 
 come to God's own temple, come, 
 raise the song of harvest home.

Yes, Thanksgiving is clearly about thanking God for supplying our our needs. For the early settlers, most of whom got their food from their own farming, it was thanking him for the harvest of the fields. Today, he supplies those needs through an amazing supply of goods and services that we can access with a little thing called money.

So, how should we express our thankfulness for the blessings God has provided? Directly to God through prayer...yes. Expressing appreciation to family, friends, first responders, the military, farmers, our employers, teachers and pastors...yes. Saying thank you is always appropriate and we cannot do it enough.

But I would suggest that the passage at the start of this blog gives us a specific way that God expects us to express our gratefulness for his blessings. I refer to it as the Principle of the Leftovers. According to this passage, God had blessed his people with such a bountiful harvest that when they reaped it, their tools could not gather it all in the first time. There would always be stalks of corn (for example) that were left behind. Or olives left on the trees. Or grapes left on the vine. Now human nature is to go back and glean every last drop from the harvest. But God said no. He said that his people were to gather all they could the first time through (and use it for the needs of themselves and their families) and then leave the rest behind. Why? Why?


Well, he says why. There will always be those that are not blessed with the fields to plow or the olive trees or the vineyards. God loves them to and wants to supply their needs. How? With what is left behind. To go back and take it all is to take what God has set aside for the poor, the widows, and the orphans. So how were his people to express thankfulness? By leaving something for those who were not so blessed.
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Most of us don't have fields to plow, trees to shake or vines to pick. Less than 1% of the US population are now farmers. But we have our own fields. We have money, and things, and plenty of food. Even when we struggle through a recessionary economy, we have so much more than most of the world.

So how can we exercise the Principle of the Leftovers? Well, I think we all know that just being generous is one way. We  can express our thankfulness by giving to causes that help the needy. And how about this - if your income is far beyond that of your server at a restaurant, tip generously. That way you are leaving some of your "harvest" in the field for someone else. Just develop a spirit of generosity - it will show God how grateful you are.
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And here's one more way that seems to me to be an almost exact replica of the act of leaving grain in the field: do something good with money that you had already considered gone and you suddenly can get it back. What do I mean? Here's an example:

Suppose for example you bought concert tickets six months ago for next week's Adele concert. But now you find out that your sister is moving and she needs you to help; you can't make the concert. So you find a friend who wants to go, and sell him the tickets. But here's the thing: You paid for those tickets months ago! You never thought you would see that money again. In fact, you had planned not to see it again - after all, you wanted to go to the concert. So here's a radical idea: sell the tickets and give the money away. Give it to some ministry or organization that helps "the least of these" (Matthew 25:40). That money is like the crop that was left behind in the field. You don't need it because it was gone already...so leave it for the fatherless and the widow. Like the extra crops. Just an idea.
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Are you thankful? Tell God. Tell those you love. And show it by being generous with the blessings for which you are thankful. If you do, I believe you will experience even more blessing, and thanksgiving will reap more thanksgiving.

So...Happy Thanksgiving!