Alternative Gifts to Give

It may seem odd to have a post on Christmas gifts in July, but posting it during an Advent season seems a bit late, since some people buy gifts throughout the year for Christmas and birthday presents. 

We sometimes buy gifts out of obligation and buy trinkets to cross a name off our list. But what gifts have been meaningful and memorable? Why are we giving things that don't matter and we can't recall a year later? So let's hit the brakes on the gift-giving train. We don't have to keep up with the pace our culture is setting. We don't have to give the way our culture pressures us to give. 

The world tries to conform us to its image. It wants as many people as possible on the consumerism train, even if it is driving people to debt and stripping the earth we are supposed to be stewarding. I considered bringing up fair trade gifts again, but since I've already discussed it here, here, here, here, here, and here, we'll skip the fair trade talk this year. Instead of rushing to the mall to blitz through our shopping list, let us consider ways we can give differently. 

We can give of our time. Instead of just giving a coffee lover a gift card to a coffee shop, we can make appointments to go with them (or invite them over) for coffee. We aren't just giving them a gift of coffee, but time together as they drink it. We can give a gift of experience, and preferably join in the experience too. Instead of buying them solo tickets for the movie theater, we can again make an appointment to see their favorite movie together.

We can give things we made. We might have to spend time throughout the year making the gifts we want to give at Christmas. We might have smaller piles of presents, that were made with love and prayers, but they have meaning and value beyond the cost of materials, because they were made by someone we love. Let us stop considering how expensive a gift is and instead value a gift because someone made it for us. 

Finally, we can give from our treasures. Instead of buying a new book for someone, we can give them our well-loved copy of it. We have a tradition in our culture of waiting until after a funeral to share our material possessions with friends and family members, but we could let go of things sooner than that. We could thoughtfully match things we own to people who would appreciate them now. 

Choose to Believe the Best

When you go through life and you observe someone's actions or words, do you automatically presume the best or worst about them?

If someone cuts you off in traffic, are they in a hurry due to an emergency or a jerk of a driver?
If someone steals something from your store, did they accidentally forget to pay (and maybe will return to remedy the error when you're not there) or did they maliciously take the item?

Far too often, we, as Christians, are quick to assume the best about our actions, flaws, and sins, and equally quick to presume the worst about other people's actions and grave sins.

Yet if we don't know the motivation and thoughts behind the actions we observe, why shouldn't we presume the best about others until we are proven wrong? Why is the default for so many Christians to presume the worst about others when we don't know their story or their ending?

Yes, I realize that most rude drivers probably aren't trying to get their spouse to the doctor ASAP, but if that keeps resentment, complaining, and bitterness out of my life and heart, why shouldn't I believe that? I won't encounter them again most likely to learn why they were driving so poorly.

My husband and I had two unique experiences with workers in other countries that highlight how we have intentionally chosen to believe the best about others, even when we realize that we are probably being overly-gracious in our interpretations.

The first encounter we had was in 2013 with the self-proclaimed "Cheap Miguel". We were on a cruise with my family and at one of our stops, we were looking around a market, trying to find maracas to purchase. Cheap Miguel drew us into his shop and had exactly what we were looking for. We were short on time, so we gladly parted with $20 for a set of maracas. We blithely walked on to meet our tour guide, only to encounter another vendor selling those identical maracas for $2.
We were...how do you say...swindled. We were frustrated at Cheap Miguel and soon recognized that if we didn't change our response, we would soon allow an ungodly root of bitterness to grow in our hearts. So we looked at our encounter with eyes tuned to grace and compassion.

Miguel might have had a family. Maybe even a large family. Someone in his family could have been sick. He could have felt torn by his desire to keep vigil at their bedside, but he also recognized his responsibility to earn money for the medical bills. So he sold souvenirs and trinkets to cruise ship tourists. He could have been frustrated by tourists trying to haggle him down on prices to save a buck, when he needed that money to buy medicine for his sick family member. He knew that he was selling homemade, hand-painted artisan goods, but he thought that most tourists wanted cheap prices to brag to their friends about instead of paying for the time and talent it took to hand-paint maracas. He possibly saw their extravagance as these tourists threw away money on luxury goods, when he faced the real needs of providing food and medicine for his family. He might have resented them, even as he craved their business. At the end of his rope, he might have cried out to God asking for a sign of generous, radical, slightly naive tourists.

Yes, most likely, we got conned, but if we continue to remember the worst about Cheap Miguel and allow that incident to turn us away from interacting with those who might rip us off, we are not living Christ-like lives.

Our other story happened in 2014. We were volunteer missionaries in Costa Rica for a year, which meant that every 90 days, we needed to leave the country for 72 hours to renew our visas. We visited the US once for the Christmas holidays and we visited Nicaragua twice. Now even though Nicaragua was right "next door" to Costa Rica, things were different there. We went from staying in a walled seminary to a small-town hotel. We were in a different climate, using different money, in a strange city, trying to figure out where we could get food cheaply. We got off the bus in Rivas, Nicaragua the first time and we were to wait for a Nazarene District Superintendent to help us get to our hotel. He arranged for us to volunteer at a local Nazarene school & even arranged rides to & from our hotel and school during our stay. He wasn't there when we got off the bus, so a kind "bicycle taxi" driver (think a bike pushing a bench two people can sit on) lent us his phone to call for our ride. Fast forward to our next trip to Nicaragua. We were supposed to get to our hotel ourselves, so when we got off the bus, we looked around and recognized the friendly bicycle taxi driver from before. Lucas asked him if he could give us a ride to our hotel. The taxi driver agrees and we hop on. Now those of you playing at home may realize that we forgot to do something important before we got in our taxi. We forgot to negotiate rates. We get to our hotel and Lucas asks the taxi driver what we owed. The number he stated was 5% of our cash for the entire trip, but that was for one of us, not both!! So in our first hour in Nicaragua, we spent 10% of our total cash for the hotel, our food, and our other necessities!! Needless to say, I was stressed and we felt conned.

Again, we could have let this event sour us towards all bicycle taxi drivers in Nicaragua and let a bitter root start growing in us, but that would not have been to react in a Christ-like way. We instead choose to forgive (and keep forgiving) this driver. We choose to learn the lesson, but set aside our feelings of being wronged. We had enough money for our trip and the money wasn't ours, but money that we were stewarding for God. Again, our naive response may have been his answer to prayer.

What was the point of these stories? Besides pointing out that we are still rather naive and gullible? A lot of time, we see parts of people's lives. We don't know their story. We don't know who they are, what they have faced, or why they are acting a certain way. If we see a glimpse of their actions and choose to believe the worst possible intentions behind those actions, we will become mistrustful and negative people, hardly the Christ-like believers we are called to be. But if we see people as God's creations, recognize that we don't know their story, and choose to believe the best, then we are letting love cover over their sins and mistakes.

So will you choose to believe the best about others?

Rich, Young Ruler or All Believers?

Individuals who have attended church for a while typically are familiar with the story of the rich, young ruler.
*He comes to Jesus asking what he must do to inherit eternal life.
*Jesus tells him to obey the commandments
*The rich, young ruler says that he has kept them.
*Then Jesus tells him to sell everything and give to the poor in order to have treasure in heaven.
*The man leaves sadly because of his great wealthy.  (Luke 18:18-30; Mark 10:17-31; Matthew 19:16-30)

Generally, when I hear sermons on this passage, there is an aside mentioned that this was Jesus's conversation with the rich, young ruler, not a command to all believers.

That's fine and dandy, but it doesn't take Luke 12:22-34 in account. In this chapter, Jesus is talking to the crowds and His disciples. This section is specifically addressed to His disciples, and Jesus tells them, "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. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Luke 12:33-34)

We don't talk about this speech recorded in Luke, not addressed to a specific person, but to the disciples.

In the USA, we are a rather possessive lot. My money. My house. My car. My stuff. We give lip service that everything comes from God, but we nonetheless are spending a lot of money on things that are not necessities.

Everything we have comes from God, BUT everything is still God's. We are stewarding His resources that He has entrusted to us. So when we spend money, we are spending His money. Everything we own, therefore is His. He can instruct us to sell it, give it away, or avoid buying it in the first place, because it is not ours.

So the question we must ask ourselves is this:
Does God want me to spend His money this way?
Does He want me to sell anything to help the poor in my community and around the world?
Am I storing up for myself treasure on earth instead of on heaven?

New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Generosity in the Bible

I was severely curious about giving and generosity in the Bible, so I decided to search the Scriptures with the help of www.biblegateway.com.

Genero(sity) or Genero(us) appears 21 times in the NIV Bible.

1. Deuteronomy 15:10...The instructions for the Sabbath year (every 7 years in the Jewish calender) included directions to give generously and ungrudgingly to the needy Israelites. If the people did this, God would bless them. Do I give generously? Do I give ungrudgingly?

2. 1 Chronicles 29:14...David prayed to God after the people prepared for the temple-building project. David was amazed that he & his people could give generously to the project. He recognized that all their wealth came from God. Do I acknowledge God as the source of my money? Am I grateful for the ability to give?

3. 2 Chronicles 31:5...The Israelites gave generously when they were allowed to give after a period of backsliding. Do I give generously when the occasion arises?

4. Psalm 37:21...The wicked borrow & don't repay. The righteous give generously. Do I repay my loans (if I answer no, I'm wicked)? Do I give generously (do I want to be righteous)?

5. Psalm 37:26...They (the righteous) give generously and lend freely. Their children are a blessing. Do I lend freely and give generously or am I a grudging lender/giver?

6. Psalm 112:5...The generous & freely-lending & justice-living people will have good come to them. Do I live ethically? Am I generous with what I have or stingy?

7. Proverbs 11:25...Generous people will prosper & the refreshers will be refreshed. Do I want to prosper & be refreshed? If yes, then be generous & refresh others.

8. Proverbs 22:9...The generous (who share their food with the poor) will be blessed. Do I share my food with the poor? I am generous with what I have?

9. Matthew 20:15...In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, we learn that people get cranky sometimes when people are generous to others. Are fair & generous always going the same direction?

10. Luke 11:41...Jesus pointed out that outward signs of cleanliness does not clean the inside. A generous spirit towards the poor can go a long way to making clean hearts & actions. Am I generous to the poor or do I scorn them?

11. Acts 10:2...Cornelius was commended for being generous and God-fearing, as well as praying and being devout. How am I known? Am I known for these qualities?

12. Acts 28:7...During Paul's shipwreck, he was shown generosity. Do I show generosity to those down on their luck?

13. Romans 12:8...Paul encourages people to do/use/live their gifts. Generosity is a spiritual gift. Do I resent or snub those who have this gift?

14. 2 Corinthians 8:2(-3)...Paul praised the church in Macedonia for their joy and generosity during trials and poverty. They gave as much as they could and honestly a bit more than they could. Do I have joy and a generous spirit during trials and poverty or do I hoard? Do I give sacrificially?

15. 2 Corinthians 9:5...Gifts should be generous, not grudgingly given. Do I give willingly or resentfully?

16. 2 Corinthians 9:6...Generous sowing leads to generous reaping. Do I give abundantly or sparingly?

17. 2 Corinthians 9:11...We are enriched to be generous & through God's workers, our generosity will lead to praise & thanksgiving of God. Do I give to God's workers? Am I allowing opportunities to praise Him?

18. 2 Corinthians 9:13...People will praise God for our obedience & our generosity in sharing. Do I share the Good News generously with others?

19. 1 Timothy 6:(17-)18...The rich are commanded to not put their faith in their money (but trust in God), do good, and be generous. Do I trust God or trust money? Am I generous?
 
20. Titus 3:6...God has generously poured out His Spirit on us through Christ.

21. James 1:5...God gives wisdom out generously. Do I ask for it?

Take-Home Points:

Do I give generously & ungrudgingly to the needy?

Do I acknowledge God as the source of my wealth? Am I grateful for my ability to give?

Do I give generously when I can?

Am I known for being generous, God-fearing, devout, and prayful?

Am I willing to give sacrificially and joyfully?

Do I trust God or trust my money?

The righteous are generous and lend freely. Good will come to them and they will prosper.

I can be generous with my food and what I have. I can be generous with the Good News.

Others may not like generosity towards others.

Giving can be within or outside of my means.

Giving can lead to God being praised & thanked.

The rich should do good and be generous.

God gives wisdom and His Spirit generously.

Giving in the Bible Part 3: Giving & Humanity

This is Part 3 in a 3-post series on Giving. You can check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Giving & Humanity

Deuteronomy 15:10...Give generously to the poor 

Proverbs 11:24...Those who give freely, get more
Proverbs 25:21...Give to your enemies
Matthew 5:42/Luke 6:30...We are to give to those who ask.

Matthew 25:33-41...What we give to the poor, we give to God/Jesus.

Matthew 10:8...We have been given much, so we should freely give.

Luke 6:38...What we give, we are given abundantly again.

Luke 14:12-14...When we give to others, we are to give to those who can't repay us.

Romans 12:8...Use our gifts, such as giving, to help others.

Romans 12:20...Give to those you don't like

Romans 13:7...Give to people what you owe them

Others & Giving

Acts 2:45...The early church were givers.

Philippians 4:10-13...Paul learned the secret of contentment despite our circumstances...relying on God the strength-giver.

Giving in the Bible Part 2: Attitudes & Thanksgiving

This is Part 2 in a 3-post series on Giving. You can check out Part 1 here.

Giving and Our Attitudes

1 Chronicles 29:17...We are to give willingly

Psalm 37:21...righteous people give generously

Proverbs 3:27-28...Don't delay in giving

Proverbs 21:26...The righteous give without sparing

Matthew 6:1-4...We are to secretly give to the needy.

1 Corinthians 13:3...Giving is meaningless, without love. 

2 Corinthians 9:5&7...Gifts should be given generously & thoughtfully...not grudgingly or reluctantly.

Luke 14:33...We are to give up everything to be Christ's disciples.

Thanksgiving

We are to give thanks to God. See multiple places in Scripture like: 1 Chronicles 16:34-35, 1 Chronicles 29:13, Psalm 7:17, Psalm 9:1,Psalm 119:62, (and many more Psalms I'm not including)

Jesus gave thanks. See Matthew 15:36, Matthew 26:26-27, Mark 8:6, Mark 14:22-23, Luke 22:19, Luke 24:30, John 6:23.

Romans 14:6 Give thanks for food.

1 Thessalonians 5:18...Give thanks always

Giving in the Bible Part 1: God and Giving

Recently, I became curious about what the Bible had to say about giving and generosity. It turns out, there are over 1,500 "giv" (i.e. give, giving, etc) in the Bible.

Instead of summarizing all 1,500+, I decided to find and write on some of the most applicable ones (i.e. the ones related to money and a few other topics). I split the verses into 5 main categories: 1) God/Jesus & Giving (& Others). 2) Giving Relating to God & Man.  3) Giving & Our Attitudes. 4) Thanksgiving. 5) Giving & Humanity. I didn't want a crazy long blog post, so I'm posting this as a 3-blog-mini-series. Enjoy!!

God/Jesus & Giving

Genesis 1:29-30 and 1 Corinthians 1:4...God is a giver.

Exodus 16:29...God gave us the Sabbath.

Deuteronomy 6:6...God gave us His commands, decrees, and laws.

Matthew 11:28...Jesus gives rest.

John 11:22...God will give us what we ask.

John 14:16...God gave us the Holy Spirit

John 14:27...Jesus gives us peace

Romans 8:32...God is our giver.

1 Corinthians 15:57...God gives us victory

2 Thessalonians 3:16...God gives peace

James 1:5...God gives wisdom generously

Acts 20:35...It's more blessed to give than to receive-Jesus

 Giving relating to God & Man

Exodus 13:12...We are to give God our firsts. 

1 Chronicles 29:13-14...Our ability to give comes from God

Matthew 19:21/Mark 10:21/Luke 18:22...Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell his stuff & give to the poor.

Matthew 6:11/Luke 11:3...We are to ask for our daily bread.

Matthew 6:31-33/Luke 12:29-34...God knows we need food, drink, & clothes, but if we first focus on God's kingdom, He will give us what we need. We are to sell our stuff & store treasure in God's kingdom

Matthew 7:7-11/Luke 11:7-13...We are to boldly ask God for our needs & He will give them to us. Men give good things to their kids, and God gives so much more because He is perfect.

Matthew 23:23/Luke 11:42...it's important to tithe (give 10% to God), but it's also important to practice justice, mercy, and faithfulness.