Are you a generous person? Am I?
Why, when we give, do we give? It is to get something in return? Perhaps an accolade, a public recognition? God forbid that it would be motivated by self-promotion?
Recently, I was driving through central Missouri on a lovely, winding highway. Suddenly, on my right, a Christian church site where there were two buildings facing the highway. The building on the right, with a cross, appeared to be the worship center. The building on the left, "Thomas Johnson Family Center." Apparently, either someone died and left the church money to build more space, or someone still living did so. Nice touch to have your name publicly attached to your gift.
So much for the left hand not knowing what he right hand is giving?
The front page of the "Review" section of Aug 31-Sept 1 (2013) Wall Street Journal splashes the following headline, Hard-Wired for GIVING. I think this is a must-read article for those of us trying to sort through why and what we give as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As I think about it, one thing this article helps demonstrate is that God may well have wired us, in making us in His image, to be giving and generous. That is, just like Him. "God is Love," John tells us. Agape love - selfsacrificing giving love. I'd contend that it was the giving, loving, sharing nature of God that compelled Him to create us.
Yet even with all the research and studies which measure why we given and when we give, the article does not answer all the questions. The article's final paragraph's 1st sentence is telling. "While we are hard-wired to 'do unto others' in a multitude of ways, we also have power of whether to take advantage of those natural capacities or let them wither away."
In other words, giving, loving, and being generous is still a choice of the heart.
We love, John tells us, because He first loved us.
