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When a religious leader asked which command was the greatest, Jesus responded, \u201cLove the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands\u201d (Matthew 22:37-40, CSB).<\/p>\n
Love isn\u2019t something we display on a wall hanging; it\u2019s something we do: \u201cLittle children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth\u201d (1\u00a0John 3:18, BSB). Jesus\u2019 teaching often centered on loving people, as in the story of the Good Samaritan who freely gave of his time and money to care for a stranger who\u2019d been beaten and robbed (Luke 10:25-37). He said we should tend to the disadvantaged just as\u00a0we would if He Himself were the one in need (Matthew 25:31-46).<\/p>\n
Jesus also said to love the spiritually poor by bringing them the gospel (Matthew 28:19-20) and by praying that God would send out workers to reach them (Matthew 9:37-38).<\/p>\n
Each of these passages, and many others, demonstrate that loving the physically poor and the spiritually poor both involve generously giving of ourselves and our resources. Loving others is really living large because it breaks us out of our own minuscule orbits. It puts us in orbit around God, who graciously meets the needs of those who meet the needs of the needy.<\/p>\n
In the King James Version, the Greek word\u00a0agape<\/em>\u00a0is often translated \u201clove.\u201d But twenty-nine times, this same word is translated \u201ccharity.\u201d Translators believed that when the word was used of vertical action, whether God toward us or us toward God, \u201clove\u201d was the proper translation. But when used of horizontal actions (toward a neighbor or an enemy), \u201ccharity\u201d served the meaning best. Why? Because loving someone is inseparable from giving\u00a0to them. If you love, you give. If you don\u2019t give, you don\u2019t\u00a0love.<\/p>\n John 3:16 is one of the best-known Bible verses: \u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.\u201d In short, love gives. Love gives time. Love gives money. Love gives privileges. Love gives what others might consider ours but what we know to be God\u2019s.<\/p>\n The life God\u2019s Son offers us cost Him His life. That\u2019s the essence of love, defined by example in the greatest act of love in the history of the universe: \u201cThis is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins\u201d (1\u00a0John 4:10, NIV).<\/p>\n Imagine if God, instead of sending His Son, sent us a message through an angel: \u201cToo bad you\u2019re going to Hell. Remember, though, I love you!\u201d Instead, He loved us as Immanuel, God with us.<\/p>\n If you still doubt that love is about generous giving, consider these words: \u201cBy this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?\u201d (1\u00a0John 3:16-17, BSB).<\/p>\n This passage portrays love as inseparable from giving. No, we can\u2019t give everything to everybody. Yet to withhold our money and possessions from the needy is to withhold from them God\u2019s love and compassion. God doesn\u2019t need our help\u2014He could do everything\u00a0without us. As the body of Christ, we are His hands and feet to the needy.<\/p>\n We can ignore people without hating them. But in the end, if we don\u2019t help them, it will be no consolation that we didn\u2019t hate them. As Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel famously said, \u201cThe opposite of love is not hate, it\u2019s indifference.\u201d<\/p>\n The abundant life, which is itself a gift to us from the God of love, pours forth abundant love to others. That is the essence of giving.<\/p>\n Evangelist John Wesley didn\u2019t just preach the gospel, he lived it.<\/p>\n Wesley had just bought pictures for his Oxford room when he noticed that the chambermaid at his door was cold. She needed a winter coat, but he had very little money left to give her. He asked himself, Will thy Master say\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. \u201cThou hast adorned thy walls with the money which might have screened this poor creature from the cold!\u201d<\/p>\n Wesley started limiting his expenses so he would have more to help the poor. At one time his book royalties gave him an annual income now worth about $160,000. Yet he lived like someone today might at an income of $20,000. His lifestyle increased marginally while his giving increased dramatically.<\/p>\n Perhaps you aren\u2019t as radical as Wesley\u2014I\u2019m certainly not\u2014but his example of love and generosity inspires me to reevaluate my lifestyle and giving as well as the way I view the people I encounter\u00a0daily.<\/p>\n Generosity isn\u2019t dependent on how much we make but on what\u2019s happening inside our hearts. It\u2019s the overflow of our love for Jesus and for others.<\/p>\n The greatest scriptural example of a group of people giving generously is the Macedonian churches of 2\u00a0Corinthians 8, whom Paul commended for insisting on taking an offering to help the needy saints in Jerusalem. The apostle said of these believers, \u201cIn the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity\u201d (verse 2, NIV). Notice that their giving was the opposite of dutiful drudgery\u2014it came out of \u201coverflowing joy.\u201d Giving was their way of living the good life.<\/p>\n On a trip to Ukraine, we spent the evening with a large family, feasting and singing hymns and laughing and exalting Jesus together. Our hosts served an entire month\u2019s ration of butter at the meal, but we were assured there was nothing they would rather do.<\/p>\n To the selfish person, a giver\u2019s behavior appears foolish and against their best interests. (Why part with a month\u2019s ration of butter to serve rich visitors who have unlimited amounts of butter at home?) Scripture says the opposite: \u201cOne person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty\u201d (Proverbs 11:24, NIV).<\/p>\n I\u2019ve certainly known generous people who were facing serious problems, but I\u2019ve never known a generous soul\u2014of any income level\u2014who was chronically unhappy. That wonderful Ukrainian family might have missed their butter, but the payoff of loving Jesus and us by showing hospitality was, to them, a far greater treasure.<\/p>\n Jesus said our greatest joy comes when we give to others: \u201cThere is more happiness in giving than in receiving\u201d (Acts\u00a020:35, GNT). Notice what Jesus did not say: \u201cNaturally, we\u2019re happier when we receive than when we give, but giving is a duty, so grit your teeth, make the sacrifice, and force yourself to give.\u201d<\/p>\n Money won\u2019t make us happy, but giving away money can make us profoundly happy! When we give out of love for Christ and others, living a life of overflowing love and joyful generosity is a no-brainer.<\/p>\nGenerosity Is Love in Action<\/strong><\/h4>\n
What Story Do Your Financial Habits Tell about Your Loves?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
You Don\u2019t Have to Be Rich to Give<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Giving from the Heart Really Matters<\/strong><\/h4>\n