Day Sixteen

Day Sixteen // March 6 // Giving

“Each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it most.” – G.K. Chesterton –

In a generation obsessed with getting, we are called to be those radical, counter-cultural outliers who give. Following the example of our Lord, we have been posted to our battle stations to fight the good fight of faith. But it’s not a war waged with artillery or missile or tank. It’s a battle for the soul. It’s a battle fought with hands clasped in prayer, not clinched in fists. It’s one fought with open hands and open hearts. And in this conflict, victory’s definition is odd. It’s not the one on top who wins. Neither is it the one who has the most who wins; it’s the one who gives the most. Jesus, Himself, would say it. In talking about success, in talking about winning from a Kingdom perspective, He said, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35).

50 PERFECTLY WOUNDED

It completely rewrites everything we were trained to shoot for. It completely rewrites everything we were brought up to work for and to want for. In fact, to live like that would cast us as complete contrarians to the “Me First” culture that surrounds us. And that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s actually a working definition of “holiness”: to stand out, to act different, to be weird for Jesus’ sake. And hands that give certainly fit that description.

For such open-handed generosity points us (and all those watching us) to a higher, truer, and purer way of living: a life lived out of gratitude. A life lived and hands used for God and for others (Mark 12:28-34). And it all stems from a growing awareness of and a profound appreciation for all that we’ve been given. Sure, most of us have worked and studied and sacrificed to get to where we are, but do we realize that everything – every skill, every ability, every moment, every dollar, every opportunity, even every hardship that’s stretched us – has been a gift? It’s all something we’ve been given out of God’s grace. And He’s given it to us on purpose and for a purpose. There’s a reason you have what you have. There’s a reason you do what you do. The trick (and part of the invitation of Lent) is to discern what that reason is… and, then, to act – using our hands in service to the Lord and to the world He came to save.

WEEK FOUR:

The Side of Christ

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

– John 15:12-17 –