One of the most powerful ways to practice the presence of God, to abide in him, is to practice the spiritual practice of generosity.
Why do I refer to generosity as a spiritual discipline? Shouldn’t generosity just be an outworking of the heart? It certainly can be. We often give our money, time, gifts, and talents to things and people we’re passionate about. But giving these things can, over time, be a way to mold, train, and shape our hearts, too.
When Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” in Matthew 6, we often read it as a warning. “Be careful about where you spend your money and your time. Because you might find that you’ll love things other than Jesus too much.” But this verse can also be read as an encouragement or an admonition. If you want to align your heart with God’s, loving what He loves, you can do what we talked about last week. You can ask Him to reveal to you how deeply He loves you, and that deep, transforming love will ultimately change you by the power of the Holy Spirit forever, giving you the ability to love in ways you never thought possible.
And yet, another way to put oneself in the pathway of the Holy Spirit where He can do His transformative heart-changing work is in the area of being generous. When we give our money, our time, our talents, and our other resources toward those things and people that are important to Jesus, over time, the Spirit shapes and molds our hearts toward those people and things. Anyone who has ever engaged in missions or given their time and money to a Christian organization or people who need help knows this to be true. Over time, these people and groups grow more in your mind and your heart. You become more conscious, aware, and concerned about what they’re doing. Your prayers are more directed toward them, and your heart inclines toward them. You begin to love as Jesus loves by practicing generosity.
I was reminded of the power of practicing God’s presence through generosity as I spent this past week conducting a CESA review of Hanalani Schools on Oahu, Hawaii. I know this sounds fake, like a workation, but it was actually legit. The purpose of our visit was to certify this school according to the CESA standards of excellence, determine where they were meeting them and falling short, and helping them develop a growth plan. It sounds like I was helping them, and I was, but these people taught me so much more, primarily about Kingdom life through generosity.
If you’ve ever been to Hawaii, it’s beautiful, and that’s true whether you’re a tourist or a resident. Living in Hawaii, however, is a very different situation. Because everything is shipped in from the mainland, the cost of living in Hawaii is in the top 85 percentile of anywhere in the U.S. Yet, the economy is somewhat depressed, leading to lower salaries on the aggregate than in other states. The average cost of a house in Hawaii is $1 million. Hawaii is a “majority of minorities”, full of cross-cultural issues that require grace and sometimes cause conflict.
In a state where 20 percent of children attend private school (the highest of any in the nation) many of the schools in Hawaii are challenging to access. Hanalani is the most definitively-Christian school in the Greater Honolulu area. It’s also one of the most accessible. This school has cultivated the generosity of several large donors over the years to build an endowment that makes it possible for 60 percent of their students to receive financial aid to attend the school. These are families who wouldn’t ordinarily be able to access a Christian education.
In Jesus’ famous story of the Final Judgment in Matthew 25, He shares that He’ll separate those who will be in His Kingdom from those who won’t. And, to those who will, He’ll say “You took care of my needs when I was hungry, sick, and in want,” and when they respond, “When did we see you in need?” He’ll say, “When you did it for the least of these among my brothers, you did it for me.”
Jesus has a special heart for the poor, the marginalized, the foreigner, the disabled. It’s not that he doesn’t love others; he absolutely does. It’s just that, if you’ve been given a lot, He doesn’t lay on us a guilt trip or a burden. Instead, He gives us an opportunity–not only resources to care for yourself, but also to express gratefulness to the Lord for those things by caring for other people. In the process, we engage in very real practices, which the Holy Spirit uses to mold and shape us into the heart of God. Then God puts others who don’t into our lives to share, live openhanded lives, and love.
By the way, “the least of these” doesn’t mean “inferior”; Scripture states that He’ll even send heavenly beings disguised as such individuals, and our Lord chose to be born among them. Instead, it means “from humble circumstances,” with humility we all need.
I read a book a few years back, “When Helping Hurts,” that changed the way I think about poverty. It brought me face-to-face with the notion that we are all poor in some way. It may be materially, socially, relationally, culturally, or spiritually, yet all of us are impoverished. Only in our country do we actually believe materially impoverished is the worst. Unless you have material things– but not any friends, or your health, or anyone who loves you, or your sanity, or Jesus. Then, material wealth doesn’t seem like everything.
For about a decade of my life, from roughly 2008 to 2018, my family, friends and this school were involved in Parental Care Ministries. I traveled to Uganda about twice a year during that time, working with the multi-site church, school, and orphanage there. Those were beautiful, amazing days, and I learned that while my Ugandan brothers and sisters lacked what I had materially, they were far culturally and relationally richer than I. I knew that when we shared what we had with each other, we all became wealthier in areas where we were lacking, and we remained wealthy in the things we possessed. That’s how God works the Body of Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven out, I guess. Each of us enriching the other by how we love each other by giving ourselves away.
That’s what I felt like the other day in Hawaii. The kids of Hanalani School welcomed us with singing indigenous songs and leis (yes, they actually adorned us with leis, but these were the best leis, because kids made them). They were generous with hugs. They treated us to three meals, including two that were as beautiful and fine as any I’ve ever eaten, enjoyed by the ocean at sunset. They lavished us with gifts: I brought home at least one of every product made in Hawaii that contains macadamia nuts. Most importantly, they were generous, humble, and gracious in their acceptance and humility of the areas of growth we identified for their school, words that I know are never easy to receive. They were generous in their praise and thanks that we would come a quarter of the way around the world to help them, something I would do 100 times again, because nothing makes you want to give like people who don’t have to be generous but who give freely and graciously with the love of Jesus.
There’s a great Hawaiian term called ohana, which you probably heard if you ever watched “Lilo and Stitch” with your kids. It means something like “family,” and it’s a generosity of love that’s characterized by other-centeredness, curiosity, and giving. You chose this family, and it’s extended and cultivated, like my brothers and sisters in Jesus. Like you.
I want the Lord to continually teach me to be a better giver and lover of Jesus and others, and I’m grateful when He surprises me with unexpected examples that capture my imagination and inspire me to greatness. He’s a generous God that way.
Leave a Reply