But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 1 Timothy 6:8
“I will put these two together: contentment makes the soul fit to receive mercy, and to do service. No man or woman in the world is as fit to receive the grace of God, and to do the work of God, as those who have contented spirits.
Those who are contented are fitted to receive mercy from the Lord. If you want a vessel to take in any liquid, you must hold it still for if the vessel stirs and shakes up and down, you cannot pour in anything, but you will say, ‘Hold still’, that you may pour it in and not lose any.
So if we would be vessels to receive God’s mercy, and would have the Lord pour his mercy into us, we must have quiet, still hearts. We must not have hearts hurrying up and down in trouble, discontent and vexing, but still and quiet hearts…
If a beggar knocks once or twice at the door and you do not come, and thereupon he is vexed and troubled and thinks it much that you let him stand a little while without anything, you think that this beggar is not fit to receive an alms.
But if you hear two or three beggars at your door, and out of your window you hear them say, ‘Let us be content to stay, perhaps they are busy, it is right that we should stay, it is well if we get anything in the end, we deserve nothing at all, and therefore we may well wait a while’, you would then quickly send them an alms.
So God deals with the heart: when it is in a disquiet mood then God does not give; but when the heart lies down quietly under God’s hand, then is it in a fit frame to receive mercy.”
Jeremiah Burroughs (c. 1600-1646) in “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment” 74-75.
I am content simply to have made it home after the longest trip I have ever taken: to South Africa via Europe. There’s no place like home, sleeping in my own bed with my dear wife, Jenni, in our humble town home in Littleton, Colorado.
As we think about almsgiving during Lent, let us consider the posture of our hearts as givers and as receivers. Does that statement about being a receiver cause you to quiver? The culture often labels as “bad” or at least a “burden on society” those who find themselves in need of alms. I believe firmly that God thinks differently!
A closer look at texts like the Lord’s Prayer teaches us that disciples of Jesus must maintain a posture of dependence on God (cf. Matthew 6:9-13). This means that sometimes we are the ones sharing with others as contented souls and sometimes we are the one receiving alms with “still and quiet hearts” from others when we find ourselves in need.
Burroughs aims at helping us learn how to be recipients. Why? Anyone who desires to be generous, must learn first how to be a recipient. We give and receive alms because we realize we have received grace and mercy. As God deals with the heart, ask Him what must change in your heart to motivate you to give alms and learn to receive alms.