The Necessity of Giving
“All things flow,” Aristotle observed long ago, as he described life. As life flows, it changes. It has been said that one cannot put their foot back into a stream in exactly the same place. The water that once surrounded one’s foot has moved on. Any miniscule bits of sediment have been carried a little further downstream. The stream has changed, in the time that it took one to dip their foot!
Life functions have a flow to them, whether it’s the micro-flow within a living cell, or the flow of blood through one’s circulatory system. Circulation is God’s design to bring nutrients to cells and to carry wastes away from them.
Even non-living things exhibit circulation. Imagine the circulatory systems of our planet’s water cycle, weather systems, and lakes, streams and rivers. Imagine the circulation that causes the slower movement of earth’s continents.
Extra-terrestrial objects also exhibit circulation. Imagine the movements of planets, moons, asteroids, stars and galaxies.
As with any system, living or non-living, the designed circulation path is critical to its existence. Interrupt that path, and disaster will occur! This is why doctors insert stents into coronary arteries or into kidney ureters: to re-establish normal flow. It is why a doctor performs a tracheotomy: to re-establish air flow into the windpipe. Things must flow, or there will be disaster and death.
Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) Why is that so? It has to do with the way we are designed, in God’s image. (Gen. 2:26) God has made everything, and He has given all of His creation into man’s care and keeping, to be good stewards of what He has given to man. (Gen. 2:28) That makes God the greatest Giver. God has held nothing back from sustaining mankind and from saving his soul. God has created a flow of blessings that sustains life.
What God has, He gives. He calls man to do the same. (Lk. 6:38) Miserly, selfish people are not nearly as happy in life as they could be. Miserly people interrupt the flow of blessings coming to them. They become spiritually sick. They need to have a lesson in faith, to let go of their stuff and to trust God’s provision: to be a provider and not a hoarder. The rich young ruler learned that lesson from Jesus. (Mk. 10:17 – 21)
The poor are our classroom, our test, to see how well we have learned God’s generous heart. How are we doing?
|
