Love and Giving

The following post is written by an East-West missionary to South Asia.

One thing my father taught me growing up was to live a life of generosity. He was always helping people in his spare time, giving away books or computers, writing checks or filling handshakes with $100 bills. Since I watched him do these things at a young age, I wanted to do the same.

My neighbor friend didn’t have much and I knew she had a hard life, so one day, I decided I would give her my red and yellow plastic Playskool car. I remember thinking, “Dad gives things away so people know Jesus. I want her to know Jesus too.”

In the book of Acts, the disciples’ first miracle post-ascension is found in chapter 3. Peter and John walk by a man who has been crippled since birth and is begging for alms. Peter and John catch the man’s attention and Peter looks him square in the eyes and says, “Silver and gold I do not have; but what I do have, that I give to you…” (Acts 3:6). And in the name of Jesus, the man was healed and able to walk!

With a deep love for Jesus and a desire for him to know the Messiah, Peter introduced the man to Jesus by giving away what he had been given.

Former South Asian worker, Amy Carmichael, is quoted to have said, “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” Being in the same region as that sister brings me great encouragement and challenge as I think of how she paved the way for generosity in this part of the world.

She is one of the bar-setters in giving yourself away for the sake of Christ’s love.

There is great joy that comes when we give away what we have been given. Whether it’s tangible or spiritual, God honors us beyond what we could imagine when we give others what we have from a heart of love.

We go through situations in life, we study certain topics, and we earn and save specific things not so we can be buried alongside all of that. Rather, we have that so we can give it away.

If storing up treasures in heaven looks like a bunch of people that I shared the love of Christ with by giving myself away, then I’m okay with that.