The Purpose of Living is Giving
The Purpose of Living is Giving
Every one of us has at one time considered or thought about what is the meaning of life. What is the purpose of living. What does it mean to be human. These are common questions to all. And if you were to google any one of these, you’ll get more answers than Taylor Swift has songs about ex-boyfriends. I’m not a swifty but I’m pretty sure it’s a lot.
The easy Christian-ese answer is that you were created to worship and glorify God your Creator. And that’s a correct answer. I take nothing away from that. But I will add to it. Worship is giving. To worship God you must give of yourself. To live a life modeled after Christ is to give of yourself completely.
Jesus tells us in Luke 9 to “deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me.” In order to take up your cross, you have to lay down what you’re carrying. And that requires giving. Giving up something.
The Christian life isn’t adding Christ to the stuff you already have going on. I don’t think God is asking us to do more as much as He’s asking us to give more. To give up more. Like those people on the show hoarders. They don’t need more storage space to add more, they’ve got some junk they need to get rid of. And I’ll be the first person to raise my hand and say that’s me.
I don’t need more Jesus. I need less of me. And less of me makes more room for Jesus. And when there’s more room for Jesus, the more I become like Him.
Living is giving. Not just generosity but sacrificially. To give of myself, my talents God has given me, my time, and my treasures. Matthew 6, the sermon on the Mount, Jesus basically says that wherever you put your treasure, whatever you value most, that exposes where your heart is. And Proverbs 4 says to “guard our heart above all else” because from it comes the source of life: our emotions. The seat of our emotions is the heart. And we will get into a lot of trouble if we let our emotions master us instead of them serving us. And it’s massively influenced by where we choose to store our treasures.
I’ve heard so many times in church that you can’t out-give God, but, if I’m being honest, I haven’t been able to bring myself to test that. Yes, I tithe and give consistently, but I could give more. I could increase my giving. I could be a billionaire in my heavenly bank account.
God’s interest rate has always been higher than what the market or any other investment could ever give. I think one possibility for why we don’t test God on out-giving is because we have become comfortable with the comforts of the world. To the point that we justify them. Don’t believe me? I’m pretty confident that I could name something that you “can’t live without” yet millions to billions of people live that way every day… or have. We also tend, in our culture, to confuse needs and wants.
Now before you start collecting stones to throw my way, I’m not saying God is telling you to shut off your A/C or sell your car and walk everywhere. But maybe He’s asking you to take a fresh look at generosity from a new perspective? Maybe He’s asking you to rethink what it means to give?
Giving requires an action. But it also requires an attitude. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that God loves a cheerful giver. It also tells us to give “not reluctant or under compulsion.” And in case you were wondering (like I was) the word in Greek for cheerful is hilaros. That’s also where English gets the word hilarious. How you give effects your attitude. And that affects your heart.
Your treasures affect your heart. And your heart affects your attitude. Which is no wonder why we have so much materially but are so hurting emotionally and spiritually.
Generosity itself is not an attitude but it absolutely affects your attitude. If it’s better to give than to receive why is it that we would rather receive than give? Or that we spend more time seeking to receive than seeking to give? Now I’m not saying everyone. Again, I’ve got my hand raised first. But I’m gonna make a point to rethink giving in my life. Will you join me?
Every one of us has at one time considered or thought about what is the meaning of life. What is the purpose of living. What does it mean to be human. These are common questions to all. And if you were to google any one of these, you’ll get more answers than Taylor Swift has songs about ex-boyfriends. I’m not a swifty but I’m pretty sure it’s a lot.
The easy Christian-ese answer is that you were created to worship and glorify God your Creator. And that’s a correct answer. I take nothing away from that. But I will add to it. Worship is giving. To worship God you must give of yourself. To live a life modeled after Christ is to give of yourself completely.
Jesus tells us in Luke 9 to “deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me.” In order to take up your cross, you have to lay down what you’re carrying. And that requires giving. Giving up something.
The Christian life isn’t adding Christ to the stuff you already have going on. I don’t think God is asking us to do more as much as He’s asking us to give more. To give up more. Like those people on the show hoarders. They don’t need more storage space to add more, they’ve got some junk they need to get rid of. And I’ll be the first person to raise my hand and say that’s me.
I don’t need more Jesus. I need less of me. And less of me makes more room for Jesus. And when there’s more room for Jesus, the more I become like Him.
Living is giving. Not just generosity but sacrificially. To give of myself, my talents God has given me, my time, and my treasures. Matthew 6, the sermon on the Mount, Jesus basically says that wherever you put your treasure, whatever you value most, that exposes where your heart is. And Proverbs 4 says to “guard our heart above all else” because from it comes the source of life: our emotions. The seat of our emotions is the heart. And we will get into a lot of trouble if we let our emotions master us instead of them serving us. And it’s massively influenced by where we choose to store our treasures.
I’ve heard so many times in church that you can’t out-give God, but, if I’m being honest, I haven’t been able to bring myself to test that. Yes, I tithe and give consistently, but I could give more. I could increase my giving. I could be a billionaire in my heavenly bank account.
God’s interest rate has always been higher than what the market or any other investment could ever give. I think one possibility for why we don’t test God on out-giving is because we have become comfortable with the comforts of the world. To the point that we justify them. Don’t believe me? I’m pretty confident that I could name something that you “can’t live without” yet millions to billions of people live that way every day… or have. We also tend, in our culture, to confuse needs and wants.
Now before you start collecting stones to throw my way, I’m not saying God is telling you to shut off your A/C or sell your car and walk everywhere. But maybe He’s asking you to take a fresh look at generosity from a new perspective? Maybe He’s asking you to rethink what it means to give?
Giving requires an action. But it also requires an attitude. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that God loves a cheerful giver. It also tells us to give “not reluctant or under compulsion.” And in case you were wondering (like I was) the word in Greek for cheerful is hilaros. That’s also where English gets the word hilarious. How you give effects your attitude. And that affects your heart.
Your treasures affect your heart. And your heart affects your attitude. Which is no wonder why we have so much materially but are so hurting emotionally and spiritually.
Generosity itself is not an attitude but it absolutely affects your attitude. If it’s better to give than to receive why is it that we would rather receive than give? Or that we spend more time seeking to receive than seeking to give? Now I’m not saying everyone. Again, I’ve got my hand raised first. But I’m gonna make a point to rethink giving in my life. Will you join me?
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1 Comment
Oh I like this. I know for so long growing up in Chruch, the main focus was always on giving as in tithe. But it's more than that. What if we tithed our time? Talents? Gifts of the spirit ? God wants it all. I love this perspective shift. Thanks for sharing. Challenge accepted.