“You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)
God’s giving is work, and His works are all gifts. God calls His acts of creation “work.” All that God does—in creation, in the outworking of history, in salvation—are His “good deeds,” His mighty works. God is not a workaholic, but He is always working—even though He is the greatest at “resting,” enjoying His labors, as well. God, in His character, is a worker. And again, His work is all tied to His giving. The different Persons of the Trinity work to give to Each Other, and God is always working on our behalf as well.
We may think God has it easy because He is God. We tend to think of God like Mary Poppins who can clean up a room with the wave of a hand. But the Bible doesn’t really portray God like that. Although God can bring worlds into being at the sound of a word, He is also a God of strength, a Man of War, and a God who is able to do all His mighty works because He is strong.
He is also a God who enjoys His labor and looks upon it all as “good.” Likewise, although our work may be unpleasant at times and difficult, we should see our labors—and the fruit of those labors—as good; and we should always be strengthening ourselves in our labors so that we might be strong for the sake of others.
That is why the Scriptures contrast working and giving with theft: “Let him who stole steal not longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” (Ephesians 4:28) As Christians, we are called to be like God, and that means we will be industrious, workers, and our working will be motivated by giving not taking. While it is certainly the right thing to work to provide for our own needs, that is not enough: we are to work in order to provide for the needs of others.
Stealing, on the other hand, is just the opposite. Rather than working in order to give, theft is all about taking what I have not worked for. And this can be seen in every facet of our lives, not simply in terms of money. Sometimes we love to receive glory or praise or honor even though we have done little or nothing to deserve it. Husbands and wives are often guilty of wanting good marriages without having to do the hard work it always takes to secure one of those. (And that is often what leads to adultery: we think we can “steal” a good relationship rather than having to work on the one God has already given us.)
We enjoy the benefits of the labors of others who have worked on our behalf, and all that we have is due to the work of God. This should lead us to lives overflowing with gratitude. But it should also lead us into our own labors—away from all theft and covetousness—that we might give back to God something of what He has given us, and that we might be like Him in our giving to others.
“Lord, we praise You this day for all Your glorious wonders, all Your mighty works. We give You thanks for all of Your working on our behalf, for all the gifts from Your hand for which we did not labor but You did. We pray that You would make us like You, that we would be hard workers, that we would enjoy our labors, that we would see them as good. We pray that You would strengthen us in our work, and that You would bless the fruit of our hands, that we might bring glory to You and joyful rest to others. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.”
Showing posts with label Giving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Giving. Show all posts
Monday, April 4, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
God the Giver (Part One)
“You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)
Not only is God the Life-giver, but He is the Giver of All Things. All creation was given as a gift from the Father to the Son, and the Son who redeems it and reforms it gives all creation as a gift back to the Father. The Father gives glory and honor and love to the Son, the Son gives love, glory, honor, and obedience to the Father, and the Holy Spirit gives honor and glory and praise to both Father and Son. The Trinity is the eternal Benefactor, the giver of all good things.
God is the giver of good things to us. If there is anything for us to give, it is only because He first gave it to us. All creation was delivered into the hand of man, and his primary “responsibility” in life is to care for it, enjoy it, and give thanks for it. Every sun that rises, every bird song in the night, every taste, feel, and smell, every popsicle, every “creation” of man in art, music, architecture, and book—all of it is given by God to man who, like Christ, is meant to give it back to God with all thanks. His ultimate gift to us, of course, is Christ Himself and all we have in Him.
This “giving-ness” found in God is to define our relations with one another as well. Our lives should be defined primarily as opportunities for us to give to one another (along with our giving to God) as God in Christ has given to us. What has God not given to us? Everything we have and are we have and are because God created us and gave to us. Even so, we are most like God when we give of our lives, of our substance, our homes, our money, our labors, our love, our food, our affection, and our very selves to those whom God has given to us as the “others” in our lives.
Theft is the opposite, demonic spirit of taking and withholding. Theft is not only taking what has not been given to you (and thus envy is to theft what lust is to adultery and what hate is to murder), but theft is the withholding from others what rightfully belongs to them—whether gratitude or honor or hospitality or paycheck.
As with other sins, theft comes in all shapes and sizes. We think of theft as a “lighter” sin than murder and adultery because theft of property is not penalized as severely as these other two in the law of God. But murder and adultery are theft at root: the taking of life and the taking of another man’s wife. The theft of God is seen as one of the most reprehensible of crimes in Scripture. Failing to give God His just due in tithes and offerings is called the “robbery of God” (Malachi 3:8), and the failure to give God thanks and honor and glory for all He has given us in creation is described as the primary root sin of the pagan world (Romans 1:21).
God gives, and His heavenly law is to give to others what we would have given to us. We can do this most confidently, regardless our circumstances, because we have the promise that in Christ God has given us all things, to the glory of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
“Great God in heaven, Author and Giver of all things good, true, and beautiful, we give You thanks for all things, and glorify You as the great Benefactor of the universe. We pray Your forgiveness for our lack of gratitude, for our coveting and taking what belongs to You and to others, for our frequent tendency toward taking and stealing rather than giving and generosity. Keep us from theft in any form—theft of God, theft of others—and enlarge our hearts to be full of giving, generosity, gratitude, service, and hard work, which is to say we wish to be made in the image of God. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.”
Not only is God the Life-giver, but He is the Giver of All Things. All creation was given as a gift from the Father to the Son, and the Son who redeems it and reforms it gives all creation as a gift back to the Father. The Father gives glory and honor and love to the Son, the Son gives love, glory, honor, and obedience to the Father, and the Holy Spirit gives honor and glory and praise to both Father and Son. The Trinity is the eternal Benefactor, the giver of all good things.
God is the giver of good things to us. If there is anything for us to give, it is only because He first gave it to us. All creation was delivered into the hand of man, and his primary “responsibility” in life is to care for it, enjoy it, and give thanks for it. Every sun that rises, every bird song in the night, every taste, feel, and smell, every popsicle, every “creation” of man in art, music, architecture, and book—all of it is given by God to man who, like Christ, is meant to give it back to God with all thanks. His ultimate gift to us, of course, is Christ Himself and all we have in Him.
This “giving-ness” found in God is to define our relations with one another as well. Our lives should be defined primarily as opportunities for us to give to one another (along with our giving to God) as God in Christ has given to us. What has God not given to us? Everything we have and are we have and are because God created us and gave to us. Even so, we are most like God when we give of our lives, of our substance, our homes, our money, our labors, our love, our food, our affection, and our very selves to those whom God has given to us as the “others” in our lives.
Theft is the opposite, demonic spirit of taking and withholding. Theft is not only taking what has not been given to you (and thus envy is to theft what lust is to adultery and what hate is to murder), but theft is the withholding from others what rightfully belongs to them—whether gratitude or honor or hospitality or paycheck.
As with other sins, theft comes in all shapes and sizes. We think of theft as a “lighter” sin than murder and adultery because theft of property is not penalized as severely as these other two in the law of God. But murder and adultery are theft at root: the taking of life and the taking of another man’s wife. The theft of God is seen as one of the most reprehensible of crimes in Scripture. Failing to give God His just due in tithes and offerings is called the “robbery of God” (Malachi 3:8), and the failure to give God thanks and honor and glory for all He has given us in creation is described as the primary root sin of the pagan world (Romans 1:21).
God gives, and His heavenly law is to give to others what we would have given to us. We can do this most confidently, regardless our circumstances, because we have the promise that in Christ God has given us all things, to the glory of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
“Great God in heaven, Author and Giver of all things good, true, and beautiful, we give You thanks for all things, and glorify You as the great Benefactor of the universe. We pray Your forgiveness for our lack of gratitude, for our coveting and taking what belongs to You and to others, for our frequent tendency toward taking and stealing rather than giving and generosity. Keep us from theft in any form—theft of God, theft of others—and enlarge our hearts to be full of giving, generosity, gratitude, service, and hard work, which is to say we wish to be made in the image of God. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)