Giveology

We just started a new series at Summit Church called G3, Get, Guard, Give. The simple explanation, as explain by Pastor Cabrera is you get something, you guard it, then you give it away. I'm really excited to see where this series goes. You would think that the three words "Get, Guard, Give" are simple and things most people do all the time. Then I started looking at myself and the environment around me. Unfortunately for me, whenever I am exposed to something that seems intriguing, I start analyzing how my life looks compared to whatever intrigues me. I think we all accept that getting something is pretty easy. We are collectors, If someone wanted to give you an old lamp, we would take it with a smile on our face thinking that maybe someday I can use this after I clean it, because it's free. The guarding part seems a little harder, because their is always the unexpected that could ruin your guarding ability. To me the part that knocked me on my butt is the giving. As a community how bad are we at giving? I know it's easy to read this and say, "I give". I give when their is a need right in front of me, the annual Salvation Army at Christmas, or maybe some canned food that's been in the cupboard for a couple of weeks and you realize you'll never eat it so I'll give it to someone who has less than me. I've recently found myself, by the grace of God, not being able to give enough. Every time I see a need I ask myself, am I suppose to do something for this. Of course my first reaction is that I don't own enough to give to everything I come across. Let me tell you a secret I learned last week. YOU DON'T OWN ANYTHING! I know your first reaction is that you own things, are you sure?

The Lords grace provides use with everything we need. Our own pride and desire usually stretches past what we need and into what we want. Think about the last two years of our economy. Regardless of your political view, your ideologies, or who's fault you think it is, millions of people have lost most all of their things. Please don't think I am down playing any ones circumstances. The loses that have gone through our world are devastating on many levels and my soul goes out to people that work hard and try there best, but still can't make ends meet. My point is that we get things, we guard them, because we think that the more we guard them the better everything will be, and then we get faced with the realization that the things we find so important are far more vulnerable to destruction than we could have ever imagined.



The question I continue to ask myself and will pose to you is, how much giving is enough? I hope and pray that more people everyday will realize that the things they have were given to them by Grace. Not for them to possess as owners, but to manage in a way that would glorify Christ and help the world around them. There will be millions of people that will recover from the economic down turn and decide that it is better to hold on and guard the things I have, now that I have them back, rather than realizing they are getting another chance with new gifts and give those gifts out to the world. Our giving can be in many forms. Financial is an obvious area of giving that most people have challenges with, but our time and heart in many instances are more powerful than any financial amount. If I see a person on the side of the road broken down or injured and I say, "I'm going to pray for them and hope that someone helps them". I'm sure God will then say, "Hey stupid, I sent you to help them. GIVE them your time and ability." In the book of James, James tells us that faith without good deeds is useless. Think about the people who you come in contact with everyday. I believe that there are people that need our help everyday and we either ignore it or think it's not important, "someone else will take care of it". Who are we waiting for? If God presents you with a need that you think is to big for you to handle, guess what, your right it is to big for you to handle. That's the point, we need to help those around us without wavering, but we need to do it with Christ, because without him, our efforts may seem to work, but not to the potential Christ wants. Whenever I am challenged with helping others, I am usually reminder of this verse, "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40. Unfortunately, just because I am reminded of it, doesn't mean I do it.

If you were kind enough to read this entire blog entry, thank you. I leave you with this. To give is far more rewarding than to get or guard. If a solider can give his life for a nation of people he doesn't know, if a woman in her 30's can give her home to a child in need instead of over trying to find a husband, and Christ can give his life for people who didn't know him and cursed his very existence. We can give to the world around us. If we don't give the things we've been given by grace, then we will likely have them taken away from us again.

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the father will give you whatever you ask in my name." Luke 15:16