The Mark of Generosity

I remember sitting in a church business meeting where the motion was brought up to close it's food pantry. The town had a food pantry, but there were issues with it. The church's was much smaller, and the number of individuals who frequented it were small. I listened as the reasons were listed: It's dangerous for the secretary if she's here by herself, people take advantage of it, it's a hassle... In the end, four people out of over thirty voted to keep it.

I think my faith in church died a little that night. Not that the reasons for closing it weren't valid, at least in some cases. We did need to be safer about it, there were a lot of hitchhikers that came through this town, and it's just good safety to have a couple people to escort these folks down. Yes, people did take advantage of it, but then, that's not an excuse for ceasing generosity. The Bible asks if we wouldn't rather be taken advantage of for the sake of Christ.

In the years since that night, I've grown increasingly angry over the ways churches spend the money and manpower they get. College Station and Bryan have numerous multimillion dollar church facilities. Some of these churches do an incredible amount of giving to the community and the world in need. One church here has done a great deal of stuff for the Haiti earthquake vicitms. But there are others that just seem to build for themselves. It's not bad to need to build, it means more people are coming to Christ (I hope). But why not start sending people out to areas that need the gospel, starting new churches there.

But that's being unfair to the churches as a whole. Every church I have ever known has some very generous and giving people. Probably more of them than the stingy, miserly Mr. Potters (reaching back to It's a Wonderful Life for my favorite money grubbing bad guy reference- and I have definitely known some of them). See, it only takes a few people to corrupt the bunch. One Scrooge can make a community see a hundred Cratchetts as not being generous. So what do you do?

Are we as individuals generous or stingy? I'm not just talking about giving to the church, I'm talking about giving to those in need. I know a lot of people who give religiously (he he) to their church, but wouldn't hand a starving man a dollar on the street. Is that generosity?

I know times are hard, but can you remember the last time you gave someone a helping hand? What about the last time you gave your time to someone? Loaned them a tool they needed? Or a book they wanted? Generosity is not just about giving money, but about how you are with all your possessions. It boils down to if you view the things you have as yours or God's.

The Acts church viewed their stuff as God's, so they gave to those who had need. It explicitly stated in Act 2:45 that they gave to anyone who had need. ANYONE. Not just friends and neighbors, but anyone. Their focus was on God, they didn't need stuff.

I must be honest, I am not an anti-materialistic guy. I like stuff. I'm somewhat of a collector of stuff. Not a hoarder, mind you, a COLLECTOR. But I also believe if I have stuff, and others need it, or want to borrow it, they can. I personally don't like to borrow lawn equipment from people, but that is jsut because I tend to break lawn equipment at a terrifying rate. But I will freely loan to others what they need.

Are you generous with your time? Would your kids/spouse/family agree with your answer? Are you genreous with your skills? Think about the last time you used your talents to aid another person.

Generosity is not just about giving away cash. We tend to go there first, but generosity is, as it was for the early church, about having an available life. Whether that meant giving of time, money, talent, or whatever was needed. Would those who know you think you are available to them, open to them, or do you shut yourself down because it is dangerous or an inconvenience?

Openness is the mark of generosity.

Addendum: I have since been informed that the church I mentioned has since re-opened their church pantry and had tremendous support for it. See, MOST people in a church are very generous- they just need to be the ones at business meetings.