Reflecting Jesus’ Heart Through Generosity

“We are never more like Christ than when we give,” declared the prolific author, Anonymous.

We all have that opportunity today, called “Giving Tuesday.” It’s a day following the emphasis on the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which challenges us to reconnect with the joy of giving and blessing others through our generosity.

Internet sources offer this origin of Giving Tuesday:

Giving Tuesday began in 2012 as a simple but profound idea launched by the 92nd Street Y in New York City in partnership with the United Nations Foundation. Their vision was to create a global day focused not on getting but on giving—a counterbalance to the busyness and material focus that often eclipse the holiday season. That first year, the movement spread rapidly through social media, nonprofit networks, churches, and community groups. What began as a modest initiative quickly grew into an international wave of generosity.

The Giving Tuesday website provides this insight and challenge.

GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement unleashing the power of radical generosity. GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Since then, it has grown into a year-round global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.

Join the movement and give, whether it’s some of your time, a donation, or the power of your voice in your local community.

The PreachersWord invites you (and more personally, Norma Jean and I invite you) in the spirit of Giving Tuesday, to participate according to your opportunity and ability.

Giving today does not have to be some grandiose gesture or huge monetary donation. Consider ways you can participate.

• Volunteering your time to a local non-profit organization.
• Doing a good deed for a friend or neighbor.
• Buying a stranger’s lunch today.
• Visiting someone who’s shut in.
• Donating food to a local foodbank.
• Collecting unused household items for a local charity
• Plant a tree in a loved one’s honor or memory
• Send care packages to incarcerated young people.
• Help a couple adopt a child by donating to Sacred Selections
• Help a college student by contributing to a scholarship fund at Florida College.
• Support Hospice, St. Jude’s Hospital, and/or the charity of your choice.

For more giving ideas, see the Giving Tuesday Toolbox page.

Giving, obviously, ought not to be limited to one day a year. It should be an attitude and lifestyle. The Bible exhorts those who have financial prosperity to “do good…ready to give…willing to share” (1 Tim. 6:18). All Christians are commanded “to do good and to share” (1 Tim. 6:16). When we internalize these values, we are following Jesus footsteps who “went about doing good” (Ax. 10:38).

Generosity is love in action. Of course, as Amy Carmichael opined, “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”

As you ponder these thoughts and this day, remember this observation often attributed to Winston Churchill. “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman