Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
“Don’t worry (you may of course pray) about being brave over merely possible evils in the future. In the old battles it was usually the reserve, who had to watch the carnage, not the troops who were in it, whose nerve broke first. Similarly, I think you in America feel much more anxiety about atomic bombs than we do: because you are further from the danger. If and when a horror turns up you will then be given grace to help you. I don’t think one is usually given it in advance. “Give us our daily bread” (not an annuity for life) applies to spiritual gifts too; the little daily support for the daily trial. Life has to be taken day by day and hour by hour.”
C.S. Lewis in The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963 (New York: HarperOne, 2007) 348.
I am convinced that a leading hindrance to generosity is the “annuity for life” mentality. This way of thinking tries to secure one’s future with some flow of money. It is rooted in fear of “possible evils in the future” and avoiding them by stockpiling money. Worst of all, it shuns the biblical mandate of relying upon God.
In this letter, Lewis reminds an American, far from the frontlines of military battle, that the grace to face challenges is daily support from God. We don’t locate peace through worry. We only find it by prayer. And it is certainly not secured through assuring some level of income.
If we are worried about the future, we are focused on the wrong realm. The future is in God’s hands and not ours to try to control or worry about. Instead, we must live life “day by day and hour by hour.” So, what do you worry about? It is an important question to ask yourself.
Every possible horror in life has only one antidote. It is the grace of God. The more we sit back and watch life happening around us the more anxiety we will feel. Don’t let that be you. Don’t let fear immobilize you or hinder your generosity. Live life generously day by day by faith.