Sell your possessions and give alms; make to yourselves purses not growing old, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where thief does not draw near, nor does moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12:33-34
“Your heart always follows your treasure, Jesus says, not the other way around. All of us need our hearts to be transformed by God’s amazing grace. However, one of the ways in which we are transformed is by beginning to place our money where it matters most—the poeople, who al have eternal value.
I am reminded of the advice that the English Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins gave to his unbelieving friend, Robert Bridges. Bridges lamented to Hopkins that he wished he could believe the Christian faith as Hopkins did. Hopkins responded with two words of advice: “Give alms.”
In other words, Hopkins was telling Bridges, give your treasure where you would desire your heart to be. Support the things that matter to God, give to the things that matter to God, and little by little, you will begin to care about the things that matter to God.”
Phil Jamieson in Saving Grace: Hope-Filled Devotions Along the Way to Financial Well-Being (Nashville: Abingdon, 2020) 24.
I am returning to the idea of what it means to share or sharing in 2022.
When we give to those who cannot care for themselves or ever pay us back, the Bible refers to this practice as giving alms.
Hopkins urged Bridges to give alms for the same reason I am urging you today. Our heart always goes where we put God’s money. Always.
So if we allocate God’s money toward possessions, pleasures, or power, that’s where our heart goes. But Jamieson wants us to direct God’s money toward people.
Look around you. See anyone in need. Look at what you have. Give alms. See what happens in their lives and in your heart in the process.