Giving

I’m having to re-learn how to give. I used to think that if I gave my tithe then all the rest of my money was mine to do with it what I wanted. Oh, and if I gave a bit of offering on top of that then I was really free to splurge any excess on myself. I learned recently that this kind of thinking is just another way to segregate my spiritual life from my secular life. In the past few months I’ve realized that this is a totally wrong way to go about giving—and living. But since this realization, I have been utterly clueless on how to give.

I think the Lord is starting to teach me…

As part of the process of freely offering gifts of our monetary resources to our brothers and sisters in need, we face the dilemma of how much to give. I think there are three possible points of decision that arise: Point 1) Give as much as you can until it hurts—for the specific purpose of reaching this threshold—to the point where everyone who may see the gift would wonder how it was even possible and be very impressed. Point 2) If you possess great resources, give a lot, but only up to the point where you really don’t feel it. This kind of giving also appears impressive; if no one sees it, at least it is impressive and comforting to our fleshly selves. 3) Give as much as you can up to the threshold of still remaining ashamed that you were able to give so little. (Immediately beyond this threshold of ‘shame-bordering-on-pain’ we reach Point 1.)

Which of these three manners of giving is most appropriate? What does the Bible teach from the story of the widow’s donation of two mites (which was enough money to perhaps buy a single meal at most) found in Mark 12 and Luke 21? Jesus taught from it that we are to contribute not out of our surplus, but “out of our lack and our want, putting in all on which we have to live” (AMP).

How many of us in America actually have “lack” and “want” to compare with this widow? Probably none of us. So how are we to give? Since we do not have lack and want for the necessities of life, are we to literally give away all that we have—even that by which we support our families? If heaven has an economy I’m confident that this is how it will work; but to behave like this on earth—unless specifically called by the Lord to do so—is to behave irresponsibly. (I would suggest that those of us who think the call of our Lord upon the rich young ruler to be a specific, literal call upon all of us, are those who still seek a precise formula for salvation. I cannot state emphatically enough how much salvation, and all that is beyond it, is about relationship, not following a specific formula.)

While we may not lack the necessities of life, all of us have “lack” and “want”; specifically, we lack that which we want. And for most of us, many of the things we want are just on the border of being out of our reach—much as the widow’s next meal was on the border of being out of her reach. We want an IPOD, a spiffy new pair of athletic shoes, a CD changer for our car, etc.

Thus, when the Spirit leads us to give, I would suggest that we, too, are to give out of our “lack” and “want”—giving all that we have that has the potential to fill that which we “lack” and that which we “want”—not towards the end of inflicting pain on ourselves (for the Lord does not desire self-flagellation), but so that we give in humility—still ashamed that we were not able to give more. In this way, our left hand does not know what our right hand does.

For what is more valuable: pain that can lead to pride, or humility that does good without looking back—forever fixing its eyes upon the Savior?