50/50

I read a blog post of "my new best friend" that really stuck with me.  She made a rather passing comment about the Biblical passage about "love your neighbor as yourself," asking the question, what if that actually meant 50/50?  If I love others as I do myself, would that mean I spend 50% of my time, money, talents and energy on others [and I take this to be outside of the nuclear family]?  Wow, what a challenge that is.  Months later I'm STILL thinking about it!

And when I began to look for Christmas cards, I saw a verse on one that I fell in love with, “From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another” John 1:16.  I hadn’t remembered that from John 1 (which tells of Jesus’ coming) so I looked it up in several versions until I found the version that was quoted and looked at the context.  In my search, I found this one from the Message that literally brings me near to weeping every time I read it.

We all live off his generous bounty,
        gift after gift after gift.
    We got the basics from Moses,
        and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
    This endless knowing and understanding—
        all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
    No one has ever seen God,
        not so much as a glimpse.
    This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
        who exists at the very heart of the Father,
        has made him plain as day.  (John 1:15-18, emphasis mine)

The more I study and reflect on the Scriptures related to Christ’s birth, the more miraculous and beautiful it becomes to me.  First, it’s important to understand that the Law, though we don’t naturally see it this way, was truly a gracious gift.  The other people followed gods who were capricious and unpredictable.  Here, the God of the Hebrews was telling them just what He expected of them and how to live in relationship with Him and one another.  How much more amazing and gracious – and surprising – that God would come live among His people?  The pagan gods would never stoop so low.

From the IVP Commentary, note "the contrast between the verbs was given (edothe) and came (egeneto). … These verbs are not contrasting a negative with a positive. Rather, the divine graciousness evident in the divine was given is tremendously intensified in the divine came. The same graciousness has now been manifested in an entirely new mode: the Word became (egeneto) flesh.

When God reveals God, it is the ultimate revelation. 'The absolute claim of the Christian revelation could not be put more definitely' (Schnackenburg 1980a:278)."

While this passage from John refers to spiritual blessings primarily (salvation, wisdom, peace, love, joy, kindness, etc), I can’t help but think that some of the abundance God would have us consider, here in this time and place (the United States, 2013 for me), are some of the earthly blessings He has given us in abundance (health, stable finances, home, food, discretionary time).

God has particularly raised questions about my family’s generosity, our treasures.  It keeps coming up everywhere I go—sermons I hear, books and blogs I read, Bible studies I’m doing.  Not only the financial, although that is part of it.  I’m saying this next part not to toot my own horn, but to give understanding of my context for wrestling with this: we’ve always given fairly generously based on statistics I've seen, and given first (we don't make sure all our bills are paid and then decide what we can afford).  But could we (should we) be doing more?

What does it mean to be generous?  What does it mean to give sacrificially?  I mean, we live in a nice enough house but could do bigger if we gave less.  So are we sacrificing?  We could go on fancier vacations if we gave less, but we get to go on vacation.  We have a pantry overflowing with food, although we eat out much less than we used to.  So, is that sacrificial?

It certainly doesn't seem painful most of the time, and to me sacrifice is tied to pain of some kind. But giving is also suppose to be filled with blessing, as the passage above conveys.  We've been blessed in many ways and I firmly believe that some of that comes as a direct result of our being obedient to give.  Sometimes I'd say we've been a part of God's exuberant giving, but most often it's something we do without much thought at all.  It's a part of our routine, our discipline, our spiritual growth.  Those of us who follow Christ receive "gift after gift after gift," an "exuberant giving" from God.  When I reflect on all of those things that I have received: hope, salvation, the help of a mighty and sovereign God, peace, joy, patience with my children, forgiveness, EVERY spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3) as well as material blessing; when I reflect on these, I am spurred to want to be a part of that exuberant giving -- and receiving as well -- as I watch what God does with our giving.  Doesn't that sound amazing?

So, what is God asking me to give?  What is He asking us to give?  Can you give up one lunch out and pack it from home, giving the extra in the offering plate?  Can I be content with my closet full of clothes rather than getting the latest peplum shirt, so I can give more to God?  Can we eat rice and beans one meal a week and pray for the people who eat that daily -- and give the savings to sponsor a child in need?

My two year old recently noticed us packing up 10% or our oldest's allowance one Sunday, to give to God.  He also wanted to give money to God, and though he doesn't yet get allowance, we took some change from his bank for him to give.  Now, many times when we mention going to church, no matter what it's for, he runs towards his room asking for money for God.  I'm a long way from loving and giving to others 50/50, but I'm praying that I can at least live out the kind of exuberant giving that this sweet little child has modeled for me.