Giving AFTER getting

So today is Giving Tuesday. 

Let’s see.... we have a day of giving thanks which (for many) turns into a day of gluttony. Then immediately after being thankful, we turn straight into greed (all in the good name of saving money and selfishly buying gifts for others). Then there is Small Business Saturday (which I am fully supportive of). After all those intense shopping days, thank goodness they give us one down day to recover but that day is still filled with scouring the internet trying to find the other things on your list. Then good ole Cyber Monday where we are back in full swing buying, buying, buying (selfishly for others of course). So today is the day where we give to others in need (right after we just emptied our pockets and filled our homes with things for our loved ones and friends). 

Do we think this day might be due to feeling slightly guilty? I have no idea but I think this is a bit half a** backwards. Why should the people who have much much less wait around to get the leftover scraps from our table? These aren't animals, these are human beings who are made in God's image and deserve to be loved and served just as much as us! 

DISCLAIMER: I am not saying there is anything wrong with enjoying a great meal with your family or getting great deals of gifts for the ones you love… NOT. SAYING. THAT. AT. ALL!! I am also not belittling or ignoring all the wonderful things people do for those in need during the holidays. This is just about perspective. All I am saying is we should give to those who have less the FIRST portions of what we have, not the scraps. Be humble and give to those you don’t know but who you know needs it more than you. Once you have done that, then (I feel) you will be able to make your list with the right perspective and also pick out gifts for your loved ones with that same mindset. Your loved ones may not get the very first things on their list (since you gave to others first) but I think this would be a valuable lesson to all (especially children) that getting gifts is a privilege, not a right (I sound like my dad). 

So I don’t believe it should be Giving Tuesday and there definitely shouldn’t be Black Friday!! There should be Thanksgiving then immediately Giving Friday. Continue with the giving theme. Be thankful for what you have then GIVE to others out of that gratitude and humbleness. Your holidays may have a completely different tone if it is done this way. (Just my theory, but worth a shot). 

 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:31-40)

When it all goes to....

One of the first things we learn about this world is that it is broken. People do things wrong, things don’t end up the way we want them to and many times, we don’t have control over it. Life isn’t perfect and it’s not always fair. I am pretty sure you are reading this thinking ‘you’re preaching to the choir!’ with a million examples running through your head. Isn’t it sad how we can think of a million examples of how things have gone “wrong” but struggle to come up with examples of how things went the way they should….?

But think about this…

God has infinite examples of how things turned out as planned and zero examples of how things went “wrong”. 

It is crazy and unfathomable to think that there is nothing to God that has gone wrong…ZERO, ZILCH, NADA. According to God, everything has gone perfectly. To our human minds (what we know of this world) that just isn’t possible! Look at all the bad things in this world! There are people who kill, steal, cheat, destroy things and other people. There is cancer and sickness. There are people on the streets, without a home or food. How could God possibly think this is perfect??

Let me start off first by saying: God isn’t ignorant! He is omniscient- all knowing. He is fully aware of the pain and suffering in this world. If he didn’t know about the sin that has infected us, then he wouldn’t have sacrificed his son for our sake. He would have let him stay in Heaven and not bothered. Jesus is proof that God knows, cares, and wants to make it “right.”

Now you may be thinking…. ‘Woah, wait, I thought God had a perfect track record. If everything is perfect to him…then what is there to make ‘right’?’

Very valid question! And to avoid us getting into a circular argument, I will say this: Jesus wasn’t plan B! Things didn’t go wrong and God needed to come up with a way to fix it. Jesus was the plan ALL ALONG. This world was God’s plan since forever. 

The question that follows after that is…. Ok, well then why would God plan this?? I mean…If I was creating the world, I would not have planned this!!

Again, valid question! I am here to tell you… I don’t know. I don’t know the mind of God…none of us know. But my best guess is that God didn’t want people who were robots, programmed to love and follow him. He wanted people who chose to do so. In order for that to happen, there had to be another option for us. God created us with minds and the ability to make decisions. He gave us free will so we will be able to exercise and use what he gave us. 

When I think about this- what comes to mind is the movie When in Rome. In the movie, Beth (Kristen Bell) goes to Rome for her little sister’s wedding. While there she takes coins out of the fount de amore (fountain of love). When she does this, the men who threw the coins in the fountain were put under a spell and were instantly in love with her. They started following and harassing her. Beth ends up falling for a guy whom she believes is under the spell. Her sister tells her the way to break the spell is to personally put the coins back in the fountain or give the coins back to the owners. “Return the coins, return the love.” Upon hearing this, Beth’s assistant and friend Stacy takes the coins and hides them from her. Desperate to break the insanity and the spell, Beth begs Stacy for the coins. She knows returning the coins means she will lose the man she has fallen for. Stacy stays, “But Beth look at what’s happened…” Beth replies, “But if I take his love against his will, then it’s not really love.” (I may be butchering it, but you get the point).

I think this is how God sees us. If we loved him because we didn’t have a choice….then it’s not really love. You wouldn’t want your significant other to love you because they were forced to, or had no choice. No, you would rather them choose to love you. 

So God didn’t have to come up with a plan B. It was all designed intentionally and with purpose. Although we may not understand exactly why it is the way it is, we do know we have a God who is in control and doesn’t make mistakes. To us, we see mistake after mistake in our lives; but God sees his plan unfolding how he intended. Whenever we make a “mistake” God’s there with his hand in it, using the “mistake” for his glory and our good.

I am sure you have heard the saying: You plan, God laughs.

It is absolutely true! To be perfectly honest, God doesn’t care about your plan. We may think we have our best interest at heart but really we don’t, God does! We are incredibly flawed humans and any plan we make or idea we have about our lives…God has something better in mind. I know many of you are sitting there thinking, “I know that is true but I just don’t see it” or “I really wish I could believe that, but it is really hard to trust God when my life has gone as it has.” 

Let me be the first to say, I am right there with you! I accepted Christ into my life when I was 4 years old and although my life hasn’t been perfect, it is definitely better than the majority of this world and I am exceedingly blessed. But as I said, my life isn’t perfect. Things haven’t gone “the right way” and I have been angry at God many times. In the low points I have cried to God asking him why He has done this! Why is He letting this happen to His child! Why isn’t He snapping His fingers and fixing this!

In those moments I think of the story of Job. Many of you may know the story but in essence Job was a God fearing man who lost everything. When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING!!! Job had 7 sons and 3 daughters. He had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 oxen, 500 donkeys, and a large number of servants. One day a messenger came to Job and told him the oxen and donkeys had been taken and the servants who were watching them had been killed. While the messenger was talking, another arrived to tell Job the sheep and servants watching them had been burned from fire that fell from the sky. While this messenger was speaking, another arrived to tell Job the camels had been taken and the servants who watched them were killed. And again, as that messenger was speaking, another arrived to tell Job a strong wind collapsed the walls of his eldest son’s house and all his children were dead. According to the Bible, Job was a righteous man and did not deserve what happened to him. All of this happened in ONE day! And not spaced out within the day but within minutes he finds out everything he had was gone! Talk about the worst day ever! Amazingly this was Job’s response:

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Are you kidding me?! That is astounding! That response is NOT NORMAL! In chapter 2 of Job, Job’s health was taken from him too. He was inflicted with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. His wife advised him to curse God and die. Luckily, he did not listen to her. He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all of this, Job did not sin! Despite the literal hell Job was facing in his life, he knew the goodness of God. Now, he wasn’t perfect; Job did curse the day he was born and complain to God. He asked many questions to God about why this was happening. He claimed injustice that God lets wicked people prosper and innocent people suffer (sounds very familiar to conversations today). God then asks a series of rhetorical questions to show Job how little he knows about how much power God has. In the end, God gave Job everything back plus some! So whenever you think you are having a bad day….just remember, it can’t be as bad as the day Job had. 

In every one of those low moment God has told me 2 things:

1.  My grace is sufficient
2.  I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. To give you hope and a future. ~ Jeremiah 29:11

      Every single time, I have been annoyed with His answer. But I know it is true. I know my God is perfect! He is faithful. He is able. He is in control. If He could create the universe and everything in it….how can I doubt He has everything under control? I know sometimes it looks like things have gotten out of hand and God has lost control. But that just isn’t possible. God loves this world more than we will ever know. If He didn’t love, Jesus never would have come. 

                For God so LOVED the world that He gave his only son…. ~John 3:16

The horrific problems in this world isn’t God’s fault, it’s ours. We are the ones who rebelled. We wanted to be our own gods. We thought we knew better. So God has just given us what we wanted. So let’s take the blame off of God. He has a plan and He will restore the world back to its untarnished glory. The tarnish we inflicted! There will be no pain, suffering or evil. 

So let’s recap

1.  The world isn’t perfect.
2. God is perfect
3. We make mistakes
4. God has never made a mistake

Some of us look in the mirror and see imperfections (again, this world isn’t perfect and we aren’t either, so there will be imperfect things about us) but when we see those imperfections, we blame God. We don’t see those things as a result of our rebellion; we think God made a mistake. Again, God has NEVER made a mistake!! And how egotistical is it to think you are just so special that IF God were to make a mistake….He would make it on you! In the history of mankind you got the golden ticket to God’s first mistake. Really? It is not true! 

So next time you see an imperfection- blame sin

Next time you think God has lost control- know he is sovereign 

Next time everything is crashing down and it’s all going to hell- know that the creator of the universe knows you by name, created YOU and has an amazing plan for your life! He will use whatever is going on in your life for HIS glory and YOUR best! 

When those doubts creep in your mind- remind yourself of the truth! 

All in all: RELAX! Everything is fine. God is working for your good. 

One of my favorite songs is All Things Possible by Mark Shultz. My favorite line in the song is:

“So my heart will believe, if I wait I will see, my God doing what only He can do”

Take some time to marinate on that!