How Real is our Joy and our Giving?

How do we give?  When do we give?  When do we give thanks?  When do we give joyful praise to God?

Giving is an essential part of the Gospel.  Throughout Scripture, and especially in the New Testament, we are instructed in the benefits of giving - beyond what has been called our ‘tithe’.  It is the seed that brings blessing, when done with the right motives.  We are to give whenever we see need and we have the means. (1 John 3:17; James 2:15-16)

In Acts 2:44-45 and Acts 4:32-35 it clearly shows that giving, and sacrificial giving was a central practice of the early Church, as important as teaching, worship and fellowship.

Cheerful giving, even when the giver is bogged down in poverty themselves, releases not just blessing, but joy.  It comes from a heart filled with a Love for the Lord and trust in His love and provision – and God never fails!

The following, excerted from The Boston Globe, 6 June should be an encouragement and challenge to every Christian – especially in the West where we too often say we “cannot afford to give because …”, or give out of our surplus, rather than give because we see a real need.  Our “needs” always seem too important!

Massachusetts Episcopal Bishop M. Thomas Shaw spent the last week in Zimbabwe at the request of the Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, who asked him to visit to express support for Zimbabwean Anglicans and to gather impressions for the Episcopal Church.

… “I don’t think I’ve ever been any place where the oppression has been that overt,” Shaw said.

… “There are widespread violations of human rights, daily reports of murder and torture and an economic and humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions. The inflation rate is one million percent and unemployment ranges between 80-90%. I have seen the long lines for gas and at banks and experienced the limited electricity and clean water and virtually empty shelves in supermarkets.”

… “Sunday I went to this really poor township, and over 400 people were worshiping in this yard of this person’s house, spilling out into the road,” he said. “It was an unbelievable experience. The enthusiasm, the joy that these people have is pretty profound.”

… Shaw said that, despite their poverty, the Zimbabwean worshipers took up a special collection to make a donation to a summer program for unprivileged children in Lynn (in the United States!).

He said he is now hoping that the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts will help finance offices for the Harare diocese, which has been locked out of its headquarters by the government. “I preached about the fact that they are not isolated in the Anglican Communion, and that there were literally millions of people around the globe that . . . are praying for them,” he said.

“And I preached about that they were a real model for the rest of us around the world, in the way that they are standing up against oppression, and not letting it get in the way of their worship for God.”

It gives us pause reading this doesn’t it?  If we were facing the kinds of trials that our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe are facing, would be flocking to meet together in the open air, to joyfully give praise and worship to God?

With no job, no food, and no money, would we still feel it is important to give to underpriviledged children in the World’s richest nation (when we are living in one of the most devastated)?

Maybe we need to stop and ask ourselves the hard questions – and honestly answer ourselves — The next time the weather seems too bad (or good) to go to church, or we feel our problems are too great to give thanks — or we go to buy that extra “treat”, whatever it is, large or small — where is our heart?  Who do we really serve?

If we have the courage to answer honestly, maybe we will get the answer to why the world no longer thinks the Church is a viable alternative to their own lifestyle – and why we do not see God’s power at work in our church and in us.