Next week my daughter will turn 7, and tonight we will have a small birthday party for her. Over the last month or so we’ve been thinking about and asking her to think about what she might want for her birthday, and as those thoughts have percolated we’ve been able to obtain some things which we hope will bring her joy. As we’ve thought about what gift we might get her, I have found myself thinking on a deeper level about the whole concept of gift-giving, and as I have the question has kept coming to me, “Why do we give?”
The answer to that question can be many and varied. Some give simply because there is an expectation to do so. It is the norm to give a birthday gift or to send a card when something major happens in someone’s life, and so folks follow the norm. Some give because they like to make others feel good. When we receive a gift it does feel good, especially if it’s something we like and can actually use, and when the giver sees that kind of satisfaction they receive a blessing for making the other happy. And yet, there is a deeper answer which we often avoid or neglect to remember, and that is, we were made to give.
For my oldest son’s 8th birthday we had a party for him and a few of his friends, but before the party Caleb decided that he really didn’t need any more toys. Through the church and in school he had caught wind of a population of kids, however, who did have needs, and this was a population of children in the community whose mothers were being hidden because their significant others/spouses had been abusive. Having heard that there were kids there who had had to leave their homes in the middle of the night and were unable to take any of their things with them, on the invitation he asked that they bring toys for the kids of the Battered Women’s Shelter.
The party was grand, and we did all the things one does at an 8 year old’s birthday party. We played games, had a piñata, ate cake and ice cream, and Caleb opened the gifts. Only when he opened the gifts, at least for me, there seemed to be a deeper meaning to the gift-giving and receiving. When he opened the gifts he, and all of us, paused to think about how excited the unknown recipient would be to play with the action figure or game, and as we did the answer to the question “Why do we give?,” came to the fore. We were reminded of the purpose of gift-giving in the first place.
The whole concept of giving begins for us at the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis. There is
nothing, but out of that nothingness God created everything. Out of chaos, God brought order, and the reason God did unfolds quickly. God creates all the stuff that we know of as the world, and it is all good. But that goodness had a focus and a purpose, and that was that God desired to be in relationship. God wanted to give life, and so God created humankind in God’s own image.
As the story unfolds we discover that this God of ours loves to give. God gives love through covenants with Noah, Abraham, and David. God gives life to children and saves lives of prophets and kings. And ultimately, God gives everything in Jesus, who came to live, love, teach, die, and be raised again so all might live and give as God does.
In a world where we are easily enticed to hold on, white-knuckled, clutching what we have with all our might, but when we learn to live lives with open hands and open hearts, always ready to give, we learn that in giving, we are truly living. We learn that our purpose is to live outward and give as we feel led. We learn that, in being created in the image of God, we have instilled within us an innate need to give, and the irony is that, until we allow that need to be a driving force in our living, we’ll never truly live.
We listen to the news and look around at our society, and we see and experience less than life. There is joblessness and despair. There are struggles and losses. There is a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, and much of this comes from the resistance to truly live...the resistance to be givers.
In the Church, in politics, in the midst of wars and Wall Street protests, in our communities and in our homes, much of what we wrestle with comes down to an unwillingness to see the bigger picture or allow that voice inside of us to be heard or allow our hearts to be stirred. For if we look for the bigger picture or listen to that voice or follow our hearts, we might just be moved to give up a few things. At first that may seem difficult, and yet if we do and trust in those promptings, what we give up can become the very things that weigh us down.
Why do we give?
Better yet, why don’t we give more?....
What is holding you back from being a person who gives with the heart of a giving God?
The answer to that question can be many and varied. Some give simply because there is an expectation to do so. It is the norm to give a birthday gift or to send a card when something major happens in someone’s life, and so folks follow the norm. Some give because they like to make others feel good. When we receive a gift it does feel good, especially if it’s something we like and can actually use, and when the giver sees that kind of satisfaction they receive a blessing for making the other happy. And yet, there is a deeper answer which we often avoid or neglect to remember, and that is, we were made to give.For my oldest son’s 8th birthday we had a party for him and a few of his friends, but before the party Caleb decided that he really didn’t need any more toys. Through the church and in school he had caught wind of a population of kids, however, who did have needs, and this was a population of children in the community whose mothers were being hidden because their significant others/spouses had been abusive. Having heard that there were kids there who had had to leave their homes in the middle of the night and were unable to take any of their things with them, on the invitation he asked that they bring toys for the kids of the Battered Women’s Shelter.
The party was grand, and we did all the things one does at an 8 year old’s birthday party. We played games, had a piñata, ate cake and ice cream, and Caleb opened the gifts. Only when he opened the gifts, at least for me, there seemed to be a deeper meaning to the gift-giving and receiving. When he opened the gifts he, and all of us, paused to think about how excited the unknown recipient would be to play with the action figure or game, and as we did the answer to the question “Why do we give?,” came to the fore. We were reminded of the purpose of gift-giving in the first place.
The whole concept of giving begins for us at the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis. There is
nothing, but out of that nothingness God created everything. Out of chaos, God brought order, and the reason God did unfolds quickly. God creates all the stuff that we know of as the world, and it is all good. But that goodness had a focus and a purpose, and that was that God desired to be in relationship. God wanted to give life, and so God created humankind in God’s own image.As the story unfolds we discover that this God of ours loves to give. God gives love through covenants with Noah, Abraham, and David. God gives life to children and saves lives of prophets and kings. And ultimately, God gives everything in Jesus, who came to live, love, teach, die, and be raised again so all might live and give as God does.
In a world where we are easily enticed to hold on, white-knuckled, clutching what we have with all our might, but when we learn to live lives with open hands and open hearts, always ready to give, we learn that in giving, we are truly living. We learn that our purpose is to live outward and give as we feel led. We learn that, in being created in the image of God, we have instilled within us an innate need to give, and the irony is that, until we allow that need to be a driving force in our living, we’ll never truly live.
We listen to the news and look around at our society, and we see and experience less than life. There is joblessness and despair. There are struggles and losses. There is a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, and much of this comes from the resistance to truly live...the resistance to be givers.In the Church, in politics, in the midst of wars and Wall Street protests, in our communities and in our homes, much of what we wrestle with comes down to an unwillingness to see the bigger picture or allow that voice inside of us to be heard or allow our hearts to be stirred. For if we look for the bigger picture or listen to that voice or follow our hearts, we might just be moved to give up a few things. At first that may seem difficult, and yet if we do and trust in those promptings, what we give up can become the very things that weigh us down.
Why do we give?
Better yet, why don’t we give more?....
What is holding you back from being a person who gives with the heart of a giving God?
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