For the past year, I have reflected on how I qualify my giving. Maybe I'm not alone in this...
I like to qualify what I give to those in need.
I hear statements a lot coming from Christians about Jesus wants us to give, but we have to make sure the person really needs it. Or how there are certain people who shouldn't receive our help because they have, by life choices, caused themselves to get into a situation that is undeserved of receiving help. The reasons go on...like we would never be called by Christ to give to those who have made mistakes...
I find all these qualifications interesting especially coming from groups of Protestant Christians who's mantra for the last 500 years has been, "we are saved by grace from God and not by any works we do."
My question: why does this salvation by grace only seem to include how God saves us by grace, but when it comes to helping others that grace all of a sudden stops? We are saved by grace, but we don't save by grace. Unless, of course, they qualify...
Jesus tells us a parable in Matthew's Gospel that goes something like this:
Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Should I forgive as many as seven times?"
Jesus said, “Not just seven times, but rather as many as seventy-seven times. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle accounts, they brought to him a servant who owed him ten thousand bags of gold. Because the servant didn’t have enough to pay it back, the master ordered that he should be sold, along with his wife and children and everything he had, and that the proceeds should be used as payment. But the servant fell down, kneeled before him, and said, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I’ll pay you back.’ The master had compassion on that servant, released him, and forgave the loan.
“When that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred coins. He grabbed him around the throat and said, ‘Pay me back what you owe me.’
“Then his fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I’ll pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he threw him into prison until he paid back his debt.
“When his fellow servants saw what happened, they were deeply offended. They came and told their master all that happened. His master called the first servant and said, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you appealed to me. Shouldn’t you also have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ His master was furious and handed him over to the guard responsible for punishing prisoners, until he had paid the whole debt.
"My heavenly Father will also do the same to you if you don’t forgive your brother or sister from your heart." (Matthew 18:21-35 CEB)
So often this verse has been used to create an ethic of forgiveness, which is certainly appropriate. But it can also be used to understand how we should respond to those in need.
If, indeed, God has forgiven our debts, we should be willing to work to help other people with their debts, that includes debts of sickness, poverty, and hunger. All those things should be freely given.
Our doctrine of grace says we are saved by God's freely given grace to us, so we too should freely give grace to those in need. Grace shouldn't be given because others deserve it, but precisely because they don't deserve it. Perhaps, then, those we help will be able to say they were saved by Grace. We are saved by grace, so we should save by grace.
As we enter this season of giving let us reflect on how we give and what we give to those in need. Let us reflect on the giving of Christ and who we give to. Let us acknowledge that we are saved by grace and, therefore, save by grace.
I'll leave you with another story.
He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." (Luke 14:12-14 ESV)
