Giving is a Choice

I have this little idiosyncrasy where if someone tells me I have to do something, I immediately don't want to do it. Maybe it's my anti-authority stance, maybe it's my desire to first discover things for myself. Maybe, I'm just strange.

By the way, this isn't just things like, "You have to get this project done, " or "You have to pay your bills, " it is also suggestions from friends that go like "You have to read this book/see this movie/eat this food."

I guess, to me, if something becomes an obligation then it is no longer capable of being a joy for me. Case in point: I always loved history. I can watch the History Channel for hours. I was one class short of minoring in History in college. But I never read a single book a professor told me to in college. Even books I had wanted to read would go unread because it had become a requirement.

Maybe I am strange.

Lately, it seems that everyone is telling me that Christians have to care about the poor. I already knew this, and also already knew my deficiencies in doing something about it. Politicians have made a lot of great sound-bites arguing for more aid to the poor, the undocumented workers, the unemployed. They are people, and we should, as believers in a compassionate Savior, be moved to brokenness over the plight of a fellow human being. The political argument has been that it is the moral obligation of the United States Government to provide for the welfare of these people. Essentially, I, as a taxpayer, MUST help my fellow people.

Now, I am not going to speak to my political views on these issues, but I am going to speak to my personal feelings about not having a choice in giving charity.

It is not charity, it is not giving, if it is forced.

I don't only see this coming from our government , I see this coming from Christianity. We are told we must give. Oh, it's not done in the same way, it is much more subtle. You don't pay your taxes, the government takes your stuff. But Christianity has decided that we need to make you feel bad if you don't give. That you are less of a Christian if you don't give to the less fortunate. Let me say right here, we ARE called to give to others, we are called to take care of one another.

We are called to do it cheerfully, and of our own accord. AKA, not because we are guilted, or coerced, or forced into it. The fact is, I think there are a lot of us that would rather look the other way when it comes to poverty. When we do give, it is more out of obligation than out of love and true concern. The truth is, we are not better Christians because we give to the less fortunate, we are better people when we love each other and care for each other's needs of our own choice.

Choice is what it comes down to. If Jesus forced us to choose Him, then we would be with Him out of obligation, not love. If we give, to our church or the poor or the weak, because we have no choice or because we feel guilty, then it is not done in worship. Yeah, the people who get cared for benefit greatly, and there is no taking that good thing away. But as an individual, don't you want to do good AND become a better person in the process?

So we need to choose: to give willingly, and cheerfully? Or, do we allow ourselves to be forced to give? Like any time I'm told I HAVE to do something, I immediately put up a wall. So my answer? Before someone tells me I have to care about the poor, I'm going to start caring about the poor. Before I am forced to give, I will be prepared to give when the need arises.