Rebecca Hays: What is generosity?

“I used to think generosity is something you would do. I now know generosity is something you are.”

Rebecca Hays in “Absolute Surrender” email from the Christian Leadership Alliance dated 12 August 2014.

When we take a posture of absolute surrender, generosity is not something we do from our strength and/or resources, but something we are in Christ: channels through which God blesses the world.

“Many Christians dread the thought of leaving this world. Why? Because so many have stored up their treasures on earth, not in heaven. Each day brings us closer to death. If your treasures are on earth, that means each day brings you closer to losing your treasures.”

Randy Alcorn in Treasure Principle (Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2001) 42.

Today’s meditation comes with a prayer that God will help each of us live more simply and give more generously and shift from stockpiling here (earth) to storing up treasures there (heaven) so that we look forward to our true home with great anticipation. Make it so, Lord Jesus.

“For the law of Christ is charity; since it has from Him bountifully bestowed on us its good things, and has patiently borne our evil things. We, therefore, then fulfill by imitation the law of Christ, when we both kindly bestow our good things, and piously endure the evil things of our friends.”

Gregory the Great (540-604) in The Book of Pastoral Rule as recounted in The Quotable Saint ed. Rosemary Ellen Guiley (New York: Visionary Living, 2002) 27.

May this rule guide our lives: kindly bestowing good and enduring evil with charity. In so doing, we will not only fulfill the law of Christ (cf. Galatians 6:1-2) but reflect also His generous love to the world!

“One of the reasons that hiddenness is such an important aspect of the spiritual life is that it keeps us focused on God. In hiddenness we do not receive human acclamation, admiration, support, or encouragement. In hiddenness we have to go to God with our sorrows and joys and trust that God will give us what we most need.

In our society we are inclined to avoid hiddenness. We want to be seen and acknowledged. We want to be useful to others and influence the course of events. But as we become visible and popular, we grow dependent on people and their responses and easily lose touch with God, the true source of our being. Hiddenness is the place of purification. In hiddenness we find our true selves.”

Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) in Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith (New York: HarperCollins, 1997) daily reading for August 14.

On this Lord’s day, consider taking a ten-minute, silent retreat. Remove yourself from people and distraction and ask God this question about yourself: Is my generosity coupled with hiddenness? Listen to the Holy Spirit, assess what you hear in light of the teachings of Scripture, respond obediently, and give thanks for the work of God in your life.

“Have Christian Ministries Become Slaves to Money?”

This question is the provocative title Bill Blacquiere, CEO of Bethany Christian Services, gave to his blogpost on 12 August 2014 based on an interview with me. You may also click to check out the 30-minute podcast.

I offer it as today’s meditation not to promote myself or this podcast, but because Bill was moved by this idea, and it may also impact you:

Too many ministries focus on raising up gifts rather than givers. When ministry leaders think money is the answer to their problems, they have become slaves to mammon. What should they do in the face of ongoing needs? They must remember their role is to rally participation in God’s work while trusting God to provide.

The lyrics of this song have really challenged and inspired me and I pray they move you in your journey of generosity to remember what we’re here for.

“What We’re Here For” from the “Life is Beautiful” CD by The Afters

This is what we’re here for.
This is what we’re here for.

Friday, came home waved to a neighbor I don’t know.
He smiled at me and I believed he was doing just fine.
His eyes can’t lie.
There’s something tearing him up on the inside
I wonder what it is, I should ask him.
But I’ve got my own life
Will I pass by?
Or am I gonna take the time?

This is what we’re here for.
To show the world how You love it.
This is what we’re made for.
To lay it all down like You did.
When we feel useless, You still use us.
Help us not forget.
This is what we’re here for.
This is what we’re here for.

We’re here to slow down, reach out
and take a better look around.
Just a little bit of time can change a life
So I won’t walk by and leave up to the next guy
I wanna be what I believe all of the time
I’ve got my own life, but it’s not mine.

This is what we’re here for.
To show the world how You love it.
This is what we’re made for.
To lay it all down like You did.
When we feel useless, You still use us.
Help us not forget.
This is what we’re here for.
This is what we’re here for.

To give, to love, to be the ones to show that you have overcome the dark,
The night, the pain we fight…that You are alive.

This is what we’re here for.
To show the world how You love it.
This is what we’re made for.
To lay it all down like You did.
When we feel useless, You still use us.
Help us not forget.
This is what we’re here for.
This is what we’re here for.

“If God cares for you, why need you care too? Can you trust Him for your soul, and not for your body? He has never refused to bear your burdens, He has never fainted under their weight. Come, then, soul! Have done with fretful care, and leave all thy concerns in the hand of a gracious God.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) in Morning and Evening Devotions reading for the morning of January 6.

What does God’s care for us have to do with generosity? Everything!

Research from sources like Generous Church shows that rather than being cautious in our spending we’ve become very cautious in our giving. Fear of the future often compounds our caution. Spurgeon would argue that nothing dispels fear faster than resting in the reality of God’s care for us.

Let’s not only rest in the reality of God’s care for us. Let’s live generously demonstrating complete trust in it!

“Deeds precede words, and in fact, without deeds words profit nothing…We are taught better by deeds than by words.”

Maximus of Turin (c. 380-465) excerpt from a sermon recounted in The Quotable Saint ed. Rosemary Ellen Guiley (New York: Visionary Living, 2002) 56.

This fifth century sermon excerpt echoes James 2:14-26. It also prompts me to think about my own life and leadership: What message do my deeds proclaim? And how can I enhance my teaching through assigning activities that may transform all who participate?

“Friendship heightens the joys of prosperity and mitigates the sorrows of adversity by dividing and sharing them. Hence the best medicine in life is a friend.”

Aelred (1110-1167) Abbot of Rievaulx in Spiritual Friendship as recounted in The Quotable Saint ed. Rosemary Ellen Guiley (New York: Visionary Living, 2002) 89.

This week I will see some saints who share their prosperity through kingdom generosity as well as some dear brothers in both NYC and LA who are gifts from the LORD. I count them all as spiritual friends. Time together deepens our kingdom collaboration. What are you doing to nurture spiritual friendships and kingdom engagement?

“The question today is not so much one of sinfulness as of worldliness. Who would dare to say you do wrong to eat and drink? Who would dare to disapprove of marrying and giving in marriage? Who would question your right to buy and sell? These things are not in themselves wrong; the wrong lies in the spiritual force behind them, which, through their medium, presses relentlessly upon us…

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap” (Luke 21:34). Note the term “life” in Jesus’ words. In the Greek New Testament three words are commonly used for life: zoe, spiritual life; psuche, psychological life; and bios, biological life. The last is the word used here, appearing in its adjectival form, biotikos, “of this life.”

The Lord is warning us to beware lest we be unduly pressed with this life’s cares, that is to say, with anxieties regarding quite ordinary matters such as food and dress which belong to our present existence on the earth…

For it is always a matter of where the heart is. We are exhorted not to let our hearts be overcharged or laden with these things to our loss. That is to say, we are not to carry a burden regarding them that would weigh us down. We are to be in a true sense detached in spirit from our goods in the house or in the field (Luke 17:31)…

There was a time when the Church rejected the world’s ways. Now she not only uses them; she abuses them…”

Watchman Nee (1903-1972) in Love Not the World: A Prophetic Call to Holy Living (Fort Washington: CLC, 1968) 76-77. Here’s where you can find the PDF of the book. I commend it to you, hoping that together we will live detached lives because worldliness hinders our fruitfulness for the kingdom.