The "Why" Matters

If the job is getting done, why should it matter why we do it? This question has been plaguing people for years, and there is much merit to the argument. Let's say there is a person who believes that it is wrong to profit from giving to the poor and has, in fact, given nothing. Let's also say that there is a person whose sole intent is on profiting by giving to the poor (giving to lower his or her taxable income can save bundles of money). This individual's motive and ambition is primarily and fundamentally for the benefit of his or her self. How effective is the moral high ground? Only one person gave to the poor. Sure, they did it for selfish reasons, but they still gave and that's all that matters, right?

The answer to that, my brothers and sisters, is "wrong." Both of the above individuals failed. It's true that scripture places a great deal of importance on giving to the poor. It was an important part of God's plan for Judaism and, in the same way, it is an important part of Christianity. Matthew 25 quotes Jesus warning that those who don't feed the hungry, clothe the naked and so forth find their eternity in hell. In Mark 10 and Matthew 19, Jesus tells the rich, young ruler to give all he has to the poor. However, as Jesus preached to the countryside in what is believed to be part of Jesus' traveling sermon, He spoke these words recorded in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5,6 & 7), "If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift."(5:23-24) And, "When you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full." (6:2) Why? Who cares if they have T-shirts printed, "I Gave to Charity!" The poor are still being fed, right? The homeless are still being sheltered. James, the elder of the Jerusalem Church, wrote these words in James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep one’s self from being polluted by the world." If it's doing the job, then it has to be right...right?

By all means no! If the purpose of being sent to this world was to end world hunger, don't you think Jesus could accomplish that? He stuffed thousands with a kid's lunchbox; he could certainly feed the world! Jesus didn't come to heal, because He had and has the power to end suffering but only healed a few. Jesus didn't come to cast out demons because they are still here. He surely didn't come to end poverty because, as He walked the earth, He too was homeless (Matthew 8:20). The reason for Jesus' coming was to die, to give up His life. The reason for our continual existence is to give up our lives as well. John says in 1 John 3:16, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters." This doesn't mean we all go and kill ourselves for people. To lay down one's life is speaking of importance, of priorities. Paul explains it this way in Philippians 2:3-4, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." And THAT is love. THAT is what we are called to be and do.

It's not good enough to give to the needy. We should, at first, give to the needy because we love God and want to obey His commands (John 14:23). It is a certain sense of duty to our Lord because we have not begun to grow in the heart of the Lord. But, as we are in the light, and we do, in fact, grow in His presence like a stem from a vine, we begin to produce the fruit of God's truer, deeper love. We begin to love, not because we strive to, but because it is our heart. John also writes in 1 John 4:16-17, 19-21, "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus ... We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister." We give to the needy because we love the needy, not to earn points with the man upstairs. We clothe the naked because we love them, not because we fear hell. We comfort those who mourn, because our heart is broken as well. We love because God first loved us. Let's live this life of love this year! May the world see God's heart in us!

In His Grip,
BJ