Jesus looked around and hareaw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them. John 1:38a
“What do you want? That’s the question. It is the first, last and most fundamental question of Christian discipleship…Our wants and longings and desires are at the core of our identity, the wellspring from which our actions and behavior flow. Our wants reverberate from our heart, the epicenter of the human person. Thus Scripture counsels, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Prov. 4:23). Discipleship, we might say, is a way to curate your heart to be attentive to and intentional about what you love.
So discipleship is more a matter of hungering and thirsting than of knowing and believing. Jesus’s command to follow Him is a command to align our loves and longings with His — to want what God wants, to desire what God desires, to hunger and thirst after God and crave a world where He is all in all — a vision encapsulated by the shorthand, “the kingdom of God.
Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just form our intellect but forms our very loves. He isn’t content to simply deposit new ideas into your mind; He is after nothing less than your wants, your loves, your longings. His “teaching” doesn’t just touch the calm, cool, collected space of reflection and contemplation; He is a teacher who invades the heated passionate regions of the heart.”
James K. A. Smith in You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2016) 2.
I am reading this book as his name came up twice in the past few weeks. Philip Eubanks, my friend who is doing PhD studies in the UK on “desire” linked to stewardship and generosity, mentioned him, and James Hoxworth, our pastor, quoted it in a recent sermon. You Are What You Love contains some powerful ideas about reorienting both our minds and hearts toward the things God loves through the habits we practice.
Notice, when Jesus started His earthly ministry He called people to repent, change directions, and pursue something different. It’s not just something better; it’s the only good life! It’s only found when we “curate” our hearts, so that our loves and longings are rightly aligned with God’s heart. It’s more than knowing and believing the truth. It’s about hungering and thirsting after the only thing that satisfies.
What does this have to do with generosity? When our loves and longings are aligned with Christ, we give to things God cares about. We become rich toward God through our care for everyone, from our neighbor, to the lost and the least in society. This reminds me of a story. Hang with me. It will be worth it. And the new header photo from our walk last night fits well with it.
One day my UK doctoral advisor, Stephen Finamore, told me this story. He called it “The Monk and the Jewel.” I think it illustrates well the point of today’s post and what I believe generosity looks like when our loves and longings are rightly aligned. We become unbelievably generous. To the best of my recollection, the story goes like this.
One day a monk was walking along a path and came upon a jewel, a valuable gem. He picked it up, packed it into his bag, and continued on his journey home.
Shortly thereafter, the monk heard a knock at the door. He opened it and found a wandering soul. He asked, “What do you want?” The beggar asked for money to buy food and drink. The monk told the sad beggar that he had no money, but he did have the priceless jewel that he found. He promptly and freely handed over the jewel.
The wanderer, with astonishment, took the gem, went into town, bought much more than food and drink. The wanderer found a place to get a bath, a warm place to sleep, and bought new clothing. “This is the good life! Or is it?” The wanderer could not stop thinking about the monk.
The next morning, the wanderer returned to the place where the monk lived and knocked again. The door opened. Again the monk asked, “What do you want?” This time the seeker inquired pointedly, “I want whatever you have that is more valuable than that gem that would lead you to share it with me so generously.”
The monk welcomed the seeking soul into his home. They sat down together. The monk shared all about Jesus, the greatest treasure anyone could ever have, and the reason he shared so richly and freely. The seeking soul found Jesus that day and hungered and thirsted no more.
“What do you want?”