Gregory of Nyssa: Grudging uncharitable heart

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Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

“God Himself is the prime Author of beneficence, the rich and generous Provider of all that we need. But we, who are taught in every letter of Scripture to imitate our Lord and Maker — we snatch everything to our own enjoyment, assigning some things to ourselves to live upon, hoarding the rest for our heirs. Merciless as we are, we care nothing for the unfortunate, we give no kindly thought to the poor. We see a fellow human with no bread to eat, no food to sustain life itself; yet far from hastening to help, far from offering that person a rescue, we leave him like a once sturdy plant to wither unwatered pitifully away under a scorching sun — and this even if we have wealth to overflowing and might let the channels of our abundance run forth to comfort many. The flow from one river-source brings richness to many a spreading plain; so the wealth of one household is enough to preserve multitudes of the poor, if only a grudging uncharitable heart does not fall like a stone to block the passage and hinder the stream.”

Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-394), the younger brother of Basil the Great and Bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia, also known as one of the Cappadocian Fathers, in On the Love of the Poor based on the translation by Peter C. Phan in Social Thought (Wilmington: Glazier, 1984), revised and expanded by Helen Rhee in Wealth and Poverty in Early Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017) 73-74.

Rhee notes (xxxvi): “[Gregory] describes the destitute in general and emphasizes again their dignity, sharing the image of God. This common humanity as natural kin warrants common and equal sharing of resources with one another against one’s exclusive and absolute ownership.”

Two statements along these lines stuck with me. Perhaps they did with you as well. The first generalizes how people relate to possessions from God: “we snatch everything to our own enjoyment, assigning some things to ourselves to live upon, hoarding the rest for our heirs.”

Times sure have not changed much. Whether in the fourth or the twenty-first century, people claim “private ownership” when God owns everything. While God’s Word does allow for “private property” it is always, always, always owned by God and to be stewarded according to His purposes.

Here’s other statement that hit me, perhaps because I am a fly fisherman: “The flow from one river-source brings richness to many a spreading plain; so the wealth of one household is enough to preserve multitudes of the poor, if only a grudging uncharitable heart does not fall like a stone to block the passage and hinder the stream.”

We must neither “snatch everything to own enjoyment” nor “fall like a stone to block the passage” of provision God supplies for us to share. Let us imitate the generosity of our Lord and Maker. Ask God to guide you in putting to work whatever surplus you have for His glory.