Tag Archives: Generosity

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Deuteronomy 15

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The First Thanksgiving Jean Louis Gerome Ferris
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Give freely and spontaneously. Don’t have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God, your God’s, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures. There are always going to be poor and needy people among you. So I command you: Always be generous, open purse and hands, give to your neighbors in trouble, your poor and hurting neighbors. Deuteronomy 15:10-11 (MSG)

As a child my parents signed us up to provide food for Thanksgiving to a family who couldn’t afford it. I still remember driving with my mother to a section of town that we had always driven through. I remember the house with the run down porch and handing the bags of groceries, the frozen turkey, the cans of cranberry sauce and green beans over to a woman I did not know, whom I would never see again.

I remember my Great Aunt telling me of my grandfather. There were some terrible years after her divorce. Each time my grandparents drove the 200 miles to visit,  she said she would clean her apartment the next week and find a fifty dollar bill on top of the refrigerator. Knowing that her pride would never allow her to accept a freely given handout, my grandfather would slip the gift on top of the refrigerator where it wouldn’t be seen until cleaning day.

I remember a friend who, just a few years ago, told me in a passing comment what a miser she considered me to be. It was said in off-hand jest, but I perceived the sincerity of the jab. She really does consider me to be miserly.

And there is the rub. On one hand is the legacy, passed on to me by previous generations, of grace and generosity which I so desire be and to carry on; the desire to be the person described in today’s chapter giving freely and spontaneously: open, purse, open hands. On the other hand is the reality of a sinful and stingy heart that others see and perceive in me and my actions. I feel constantly the tension between Jesus’ challenge to give everything away and my heart’s penchant for hoarding everything for myself.

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Some days I am gratefully reminded that this is a journey and I have not arrived. I am not the person God desires, nor the person I, myself, desire. The work of molding and shaping is not complete. I am a work in progress. The key is to keep moving forward letting the regular motion of the journey keep my heart pliable like clay that is constantly worked in the hands of the potter. If I stop for too long and choose not to press on, then things sit and slowly begin to dry out and harden.

Here we go.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Leviticus 27

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International Money Pile in Cash and Coins
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“A tenth of the land’s produce, whether grain from the ground or fruit from the trees, is God’s. It is holy to God.” Leviticus 27:30 (MSG)

When I was small, I was taught to give God ten percent of what I made in an offering. I received a box of envelopes from the church just to be a weekly reminder to give a portion of my newspaper route and lawn mowing income back to God. When my daughters were young, I taught them the principle of giving ten percent to God, putting ten percent in savings and learning to budget and live on eighty percent.

It’s funny to think that there are still pieces of our lives, our faith, and our culture that are still rooted in Levitical laws given by Moses 3500 years ago. There is, of course, no magic to giving the ten percent, first-fruits “tithe” of income to God. In fact, Jesus upped the ante on a regular basis, urging followers give everything to God. Offering a portion of our income back to God is spiritually profitable on a number of levels. It reminds us that what we “own” really belongs to God, it provides for the well-being and needs of those less fortunate, and it reduces our propensity to be self-centered and materialistic.

Today, I’m thankful that the principle of giving was taught to me as a kid, and I’m renewing my commitment to, as Psalm 112 says, “be generous and lend freely…to scatter abroad my gifts to the poor.”

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Leviticus 3

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“All the fat belongs to God. This is the fixed rule down through the generations, wherever you happen to live: Don’t eat the fat; don’t eat the blood. None of it.”  Leviticus 3:16-17 (MSG)

Many years ago I had a traffic accident and suddenly found myself without a car for a short period of time. A compassionate neighbor offered to let me have one of his cars while mine was in the shop. It was a kind gesture, but I was rather surprised when he handed me the keys of his new luxury sedan. He had a couple of older vehicles he could have given me, but he gave me the best he had to give. I was humbled and grateful. I’ve never forgotten his extravagant generosity.

In acient days, when Leviticus was given as the law, the “fat” of an animal was considered the very best part. When setting up the sacrificial system, God clearly wanted to the people to cheerfully and freely give the best portion of a pure animal to God. While the sacrificial system is difficult for us to wrap our cultural minds around, the word pictures given within the system are just as relevant for us today.

When we give to God, when we give to others, are our hearts open to giving the best we have to give? Or, do we hoard the best for ourselves and parcel out what’s left if we’re forced to do so? It is really a litmus test which reaveals the condition of our hearts. Can we let go of the temporal, material things of this world, or are we clinging on to to things for dear life, and so revealing where we find our treasure?

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and andreiz
Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Leviticus 2

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Gold Medal Flour at Dot's Cafe
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When you present a Grain-Offering of oven-baked loaves, use fine flour, mixed with oil but no yeast. Or present wafers made without yeast and spread with oil. Leviticus 2:4 (MSG)

When my children were still babies, I made a habit of having them close their eyes, bow their heads and hold hands while we thanked God for their food. At bedtime I would read Bible stories and we would act them out together in little bed-top improvisations. On Memorial Day, grandma would pick them up each year to help her plant flowers on the graves of loved ones. These repetitious rituals are word pictures and reminders of thankfulness, offering, obedience, and honor that, hopefully, stick with children as they grown into adolescence and adulthood.

When I read Leviticus I often picture mankind and human society in its infancy. The sacrifices, rules and offerings are ritualistic word pictures prescribed by a Father to his people, who are just a toddler society beginning to understand their place in the world.

Today, two things struck me in the word picture of the grain offerings:

First, fine flour was to be used. When we give, to others and especially to God, we should give the best we have. It reminds me of the lyric to David’s song (which we know as Psalm 112) which says “Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely.” Am I giving God and my neighbors the fine stuff or the white elephant stuff on my basement shelf?

Second, the bread offering was not to contain yeast. God uses a word picture out of what was a daily chore at that time: the baking of bread. We bake a lot of bread in our house and the last ingredient you put in to the breadmaker is the yeast. It always amazes me how a little teaspoon of yeast makes such a HUGE difference in the outcome of the bread. That’s why God used it as a word picture for sin. A little sin taints the whole person the way a little yeast taints the whole loaf. You can’t bake a loaf that’s half leavened (with yeast) and half unleavened (without yeast). Once the yeast is added, the entire loaf is tainted. We often want to think of sin as this isolated part of our person. We’re mostly “good” people who have this hidden little sin problem back in our closet. By requiring bread without yeast as an offering, God was telling us “I demand a sinless sacrifice. A pinch of sin affects the whole person, and that’s a problem.”

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