Since the beginning of Alex thread regarding giving 20 bucks to a homeless, I wanted to post, but what I wanted to say was a little longer than a short comment and so I have decided to make my own thread. I know the line between teaching and 'sharing your take about a subject' sometimes is kind of blurry. I wish I am not braking any forum rules, therefore I will try to keep this as personal as I can.
Giving from the heart is the way we are supposed to give, and I agree, it's that simple. So what else could be said about it? According to the Scriptures, specifically the 'heart' is the part of our physique where we find our deepest emotions, intentions, desires, thoughts and imaginations (even when they are not totally conscious) and moral feelings. It is the most important and fundamental part to all our mental processes.
There was a time years ago when I was in NY for a while, giving so often the little money I had to the homeless, that I was soon to become one of them. From personal experience I have realize that giving is not that simple. Trying to love God with all our heart is the way to go, but, that's not all, we are asked to love God with all our mind as well. Specifically the 'mind' is the name assigned to the part of our psyche that has more to do with our intellect, rationality or analyzes (Rom. 14:5). Also with our memory, understanding, thoughts, common sense, morality and desires.
There was a time on my life when I was younger, that I had this strong feeling of joining an volunteer organization, but then realize that wasn't MY call. Next I am going to share three things that have help me out on this complex thing of giving. This are not rules to follow but just four things to remember, on what could be called 'The good Art of Giving'. (I called it art, because even when art is subjective to each person, good art does follows certain patterns which is what make it better over the others).
First thing that I try to keep in mind WHEN I GIVE:
- I AM NOT ATTEMPTING TO FIX GOD'S WORLD WITH MY PUNY GOOD DEEDS. If I would dig into the roots of all physical world problems, eventually I will realize that the problem is spiritual, right in the heart of all men. Even if some Powerful Organization with a great new Technology would bring physical wealth to every human being on earth, we would surely still have spiritual starving people among us. The peace of mind that this world gives (economical security, safety, healthiness, etc.) is very different than God's peace of mind.
John 14:27 Peace I am leaving with you. My peace I am giving to you. Not according as the world is giving to you, am I giving to you. Let not your heart be disturbed, neither let it be timid."The thing with giving with this "good intention of world peace" in mind is that even without thinking about it consciously, we are telling God that things today are going out of control and that he needs some help, and so our Ego begins to grow and it is then when we stop growing spiritually. Truth is that God know what He is doing and eventually he will bring peace (That is my hope), but not on this eon.
Dear Deborah:
Good question.
The "world" represents two entities in Scripture: [1] The Church, Judaism, the Whore, Mystery Babylon the Great, and [2] The social system of the the nations in general.
...
Jesus prayed for NEITHER of these two "worlds," as their destiny is solidly fixed by God's divine providence, and therefore prayer would be of no value. Jesus does not pray that His Father's Prophecies should NOT come to pass, and neither do God's Elect pray such nonsense as is parroted daily over the air waves "pray for world peace." Nonsense. There will be no world peace--God has already decreed it.
God be with you,
RaySecond thing that I try to keep in mind WHEN I GIVE:
- MAKE A PRIORITY OF SPIRITUAL BROTHERS AND THE EXPANSION OF THE GOOD NEWS. Since the first communities of believers we can see that giving from the heart between brothers was a priority (Acts 4:32 & 35 & 44), most verses about giving on the New Testament are about giving among brothers (it even makes sense to me that even in a family united blood bonds, a father would be doing wrong by giving his resources to the homeless while his wife and sons are going in need).
Also they used to give resources to TRUE teachers like Paul so to help them on their journey expanding the gospel. Today we have new technologies and new ways to expand the good news trough online means. We are to love God with all our heart and mind and this is not an easy task.
Doing more good sometimes depends on who do you do this good, just as doing more bad depends on who do you do that evil. For example, killing a person is wrong, but if someone kill an innocent girl, this makes it even worst. And woe to those who killed our Lord, but how fortunate those who where able to help out and do some good for our Lord.
And third thing to keep in mind WHEN I GIVE:
-TRY TO DO GOOD DEEDS TO NON-BELIEVERS IF TIME AND OPPORTUNITY IS FAVORABLE. Also they are a few examples of giving to non-believers on the new testament:
Luke 12:33 "...give alms. Make yourselves purses which do not age, a treasure which does not default, in the heavens where a thief is not nearing, neither moth is causing decay."But when giving alms which sounds so nice and easy, we must also be careful of:
Doing it on secret, so I guess is between me and God. Now, if I join a volunteer organization, that would not be very secretly, personally I would care more about being able to help people spiritually than physically in my future. Churches love to do it openly, but they already have their reward, which is a good feeling of self pride and a little less dirty conscience (while we all know that these also works well for them as an advertising tool to promote their religious organization).
I guess one of the most important points when giving is to be aware of our Ego and Motivations. Judging is another thing that gets in the equation, beyond very basic human needs, giving money doesn't really help carnal people; as long as the heart is so weak, things are not really better off. Therefore when giving I have to make sure that my message is not: "your personal lifestyle is wrong--you must go for a higher living standard." This is called Judging. And Jesus said to judge not. Sometimes giving make things worst than better, and sometimes a little better than worst.
I am all for giving and helping when time and opportunity is favorable. All I am doing here is sharing some things that I try to keep in mind when giving, which could be probably of some help for someone else.And here is one more email with more info on the subject:
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,2422.msg18930.html#msg18930