15 June 2015 - have no limit as limit

Give to the one who asks of you,
and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.

Jesus cuts to the core of us, past our selfish egos. Our attempts at self-preservation are ruled out and excluded. It seems extreme. Won't we be quickly run out? It seems like if we don't fight for what is ours we will not have enough.

When someone strikes you on your right cheek,
turn the other one to him as well.

If we don't stick up for justice, we think, won't evil win? 

But in all this, are we sticking up for justice and right, fighting for what we need and deserve, or merely fighting for ourselves, our pride, and those things we want? We are called to remove ourselves from the equation. We don't necessarily change behaviors. We still go to war against the Hitlers of the world. We still provide for ourselves and our families. But now we are able to give and serve in ways which appear (and are in fact) supernatural. We seem "sorrowful yet" we are "always rejoicing". We may be "poor yet"  because we are "enriching many" it doesn't bother us.

Giving is not something we do on our own. It is meant to be supernaturally empowered.

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness (cf. Rom. 12:3-8).

We can also see from this that it is a gift to be discerned. It is not a thing to always and everywhere do. There are charities which are not good stewards of our gifts. They do not deserve our generosity. We must be led by the Spirit. When we are led by the Spirit to give we are empowered to give spectacularly.

We don't have to put ourselves first because even "having nothing" in Jesus we experience "possessing all things." This is what Paul describes:

For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s (cf. 1 Cor. 3:22).

Hearing all that makes it sound even more distant. But that is not the point. The point is this. God wants to empower unprecedented acts of generosity in the lives of believers, generosity that bears witness that he is LORD. It is not up to us to do this. It is only up to us to let him do this within us. Ours is to say yes, a simple yes, but a yes without reserve. When we do we witness God's victory in the world.

Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him, 
his holy arm.