Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. Luke 12:33
“About the same time also my wife and I had grace given to us to take the Lord’s commandment, “Sell that ye have, and give alms,” Luke xii. 33, literally, and to carry it out. Our staff and support in this matter were Matthew vi.19—34, John xiv. 13—14. We leaned on the arm of the Lord Jesus. It is now twenty-nine years, since we set out in this way, and we do not in the least regret the step we then took. Our God also has, in His tender mercy, given us grace to abide in the same mind concerning the above points, both as it regards principle and practice; and this has been the means of letting us see the tender love and care of our God over His children, even in the most minute things, in a way in which we never experimentally knew them before; and it has, in particular, made the Lord known to us more fully than we knew him before, as a prayer hearing God.”
George Müller (1805-1898) in A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller. Written by Himself. First Part (London: J. Nisbit & Co., 1860) 69-70.
Giving alms, that is, sharing your surplus to meet someone’s deficit, is not a suggestion from our Lord, but a command. People are afraid of it. The more money they have, the more they are afraid to let it go. Truth be told, Jenni and I were terrified too. We thought (wrongly!) that those who obeyed would end up empty, so we ignored Jesus. We did for about the first 17 or so years of our marriage.
No wonder Lent begins with repentance (Ash Wednesday)! The time for practicing selective inattention to “hard teachings” of Jesus is over. We must change directions (that’s what “repentance” means)! No one is immune to this. It applies to all of us.
As we enter Lent, it’s encouraging to read from the personal testimony of George Müller that after 29 years of giving alms and leaning on the “arm of the Lord Jesus” that Jesus not only heard their prayers, but ministered to them by meeting even “minute” needs.
What Müller discovered long before us, and what we have found to be true is this: when we obey this command of Jesus, we don’t end up empty, but rather, enriched for greater generosity, because our God is a prayer hearing God, and we are His hands and feet. Some times we get to bless, and other times we receive the blessing.
Give alms this Lent. Our Lord commands it. Your life will never be the same, and you won’t regret it because we serve a prayer hearing God!