Charity

Many of you know that Michelle and I went on a mission trip last month with our congregation. If you have never done anything like this, you really should. It gives you a true understanding of how good "we" have it, compared to how "others" have it. During this trip, I started paying attention to thoughts that were making me uncomfortable. Particularly - helping others, and having a thought in the back of my head that says, "what are they really going to do with that money? Do they really appreciate what I am doing for them?" It's on a mission trip, where you are pouring your heart and soul into helping others, that these thoughts seem to creep up. After the mission trip, I began to take note of the times that Michelle and I gave to those who were in need either out of our time, food, gas, or money. It was as if God saw an opportunity to give me a life lesson once again. But it was the "money" instances that I particularly seemed to question.....

What is it about giving money that makes us question others' motives for what they will do with what we give them? How is it we can make a 7 course meal for someone, spend countless hours watching their kids while they go and apply to jobs, take them on numerous errands, and even pay their electric bill and not question any of these acts, but when it comes to digging in our pockets, we start to question their motives? We take a breather, and ask, "well now hold on. What are they going to actually do with this money? How do I know they are not going to buy some beer, or get high? It is as if we are asking the question, "Are they worthy of the money I am giving them?" Is that really what we are saying? IF we are able to give, why can we not just GIVE?

Oddly enough, I have yet to find a single passage where God tells us to question the motives of those we give to. Now, granted their are numerous verses in the bible that talk about dealing with "fools", but is that what Jesus is meaning? Truth is, I don't know. I have lost a lot of sleep over this the last few months. Why can I not give cheerfully to those that I don't trust? Sure, if we aren't careful we enable people. We basically teach them that if all they do is ask the right people, then they will get what they ask for. There is a part of us that wants to teach them HOW to take care of themselves. We want to show them "there is a better way". Is that true, or is there a tiny voice inside of us that says, "this is my money. I earned it. What did you do today to deserve it?"

As I said for me, I think the reality is that others have to earn my trust. If I am going to give you money, then I trust that you are going to use my money appropriately. In other words, I want to see a good return on my investment. If I require something of you when I "give" you money, am I really giving my money away? I think the answer is an obvious no. To give something away means to literally let go and forget about it.

One night while we were on the mission trip, I had a long debate (discussion) about this very topic with a good friend of mine. We both agreed that we felt we were generous people(and who doesn't think they are genreaous), but we decided that our amount of generosity seemed to be directly related to the level of appreciation to those receiving it. Again, I am still looking for the biblical verse where Jesus talks about extenuating circumstances and giving. I'll be honest; I am not very good about giving money to those I don't trust. I prefer to take them to the gas station if they need gas, or take them to the grocery store if they need food. I rarely give money directly. But I can't help but ask myself, "how would Jesus handle that situation?" I WANT Jesus to sit there and ask them a hundred questions about the reason for asking for the money. I WANT Jesus to try and catch them in lies, so he can justify not giving them the money. I WANT Jesus to tell them they don't deserve it, because they would use the money for something else. I am not sure that is what Jeuss would do, though.

I think the main part of the problem here is that I have been saying "my money", not God's money. If I am really honest with myself, I would say that my problem starts there. God tells us to be smart with our money (good stewards"), but he also says to give cheerfully. God cares about what is in our heart. He cares more about why we give, than how much we give. If we can give, and someone asks us for money, why shouldn't we give?