Opening the envelope is like stepping into the wintry blast of a January wind. To say the least, it is surprising. It can even be shocking. Did one really spend that much money at Christmastime?
The bills add up — the charge card, the store card, the bank statement. All the little extras one did to make Christmas special this year cost a little, at the time. They did not amount to much, one concluded in December. But in January, the bills seem as daunting as a steep mountain in a hiker’s path.
If there is any Scrooge in one, it shows itself in January. One’s generosity can become as bleak as an overcast wintry day. One can question if the smiles, the warmth, the joy of Christmas were worth the totals reflected in January’s statements. Somehow the happy holiday memories dancing in our minds seem challenged by the bold numbers in the “due and payable” column of the bills taken from the envelope still in one’s hands.
Silently one reviews the list of people receiving gifts. Did I have to give that person a gift, one asks. Could I have given that person a little less? Did I give the gift because I wanted to or because I felt compelled, one asks. Was I duped by clever marketers to buy that gift or did I give the gift because I care?
The questions can be agonizing, even if they last only a few moments. It is a soul-searching experience. Values are revealed, priorities made clear. How does personal prosperity relate to giving and how do both relate to stewardship?
A heart set on personal prosperity will never be satisfied, the Bible says. The writer of Ecclesiastes declared, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money nor he who loves abundance with its income” (Eccl. 5: 10). Jesus also cautioned against a heart set on personal prosperity. In Luke 12:15, He said, “Beware and be on your guard against every form of greed. Not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”
A heart set on personal prosperity is exactly what Ecclesiastes declares it to be — vanity and greed.
Giving is not a magic potion to cure greed. One can give without loving. One can give in order to get. Giving can be selfish. A rhyme makes the point.
Old Brother Horner sat in a corner
As the offering plate passed by;
Sweetly content, he dropped in a cent
And said, “What a good churchman am I.”
Whether it be to God or to family and friends, one can try to manipulate, impress or deceive with a gift. But one observer spoke the truth when he noted that God not only notices what one gives, He also sees what one has left. The Bible also points out the importance of the spirit of giving — God loves a cheerful giver — and the manner of giving. Did the giver draw attention to oneself through the gift?
God is not the only one who recognizes manipulation, deceit and a self-serving attitude. Human beings can see them, too.
Equally clear is that one cannot love without giving. Loving and giving are as connected as life and breath. Love does not “seek its own,” the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:5. Love is giving. No gift, no matter its size, is small, when given with love.
God sets the example. He gives the heavens and the earth, food and clothing, rest and rain. God gives a Savior to take away sin. He gives the Holy Spirit as Comforter and Guide. God gives grace for repentance and faith for believing.
God is a giver because God is love.
The cost of God’s giving bites more sharply than any wintry wind. For God to give salvation, it cost His only begotten Son. But God did not shrink back with regret when payment came due. No Scrooge-like heart was His. “For God so loved the world that He gave … .”
If one loves, one gives. If one loves God, one gives tithes and offerings. If one loves others, one gives gifts from the heart. Love makes the difference. No wintry wind can change that fact.
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