After Thanks … Giving?

After Thanks … Giving?

by | Nov 25, 2018 | Giving

Originating in the United States in 2012, “Giving Tuesday” has become a global movement that encourages individuals, organizations, and communities to focus on year-end giving to good causes rather than just to ourselves and those we know, as so many do around the holiday season. 
 
Giving Tuesday is scheduled to closely follow the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on the last Thursday of November each year and the immediately following shopping-frenzy days of “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday.” In strong contrast with these totally consumer-oriented days, Giving Tuesday focuses on the way of giving rather than getting, so it is something that deserves our thought and support.

Naturally, the concept of Giving Tuesday does not suggest that we should only give to those who need help on this one day of the year. But it does focus our minds on needs we can perhaps alleviate at a time of year when support for charities and other ways of helping others typically falls off as many people spend the greater part of what they receive on themselves and their family and friends.

Now in its seventh year and fueled by press coverage, social media, and internet discussion, Giving Tuesday has been tremendously successful in bringing a great deal of funding to many excellent causes around the world.  However, so many charities exist that it can be confusing and somewhat overwhelming to try to decide where to give if we do want to participate.  That’s how a good online charity rating site can prove tremendously helpful. We recommend CharityNavigator.org. Although there are several similar sites, Charity Navigator clearly shows what percentage of the moneys received by various aid organizations go to their claimed targets –  and the site also provides an advisory  about charities that are suspect in terms of what they are doing or how much of their funds they are using on administration. A few minutes spent checking charities on a site like this can help guarantee that what we can give gets to where it needs to go.*

But of course, giving doesn’t always have to be about money.   Although this day may be a great opportunity to think about how we can give financially, as we are able, there are other ways we can give that are just as valuable.  Giving of our time, assistance, concern, and encouragement can be just as valuable as giving money in many circumstances – and even better in some.  The end of the year holiday season is often a particularly hard time for those who are by themselves, single parents, widows, widowers, and others.  Ironically, the “season of good will” is often a time of heightened levels of loneliness, depression, and even suicide.  

Thinking about Giving Tuesday provides us not only an extra incentive to give of what we ourselves have received, but also an extra opportunity to think about those we may know who could use some extra encouragement or help as we go into the winter season.  These are things which should continue to be concerns for us throughout the year, of course, but Giving Tuesday provides a valuable opportunity to begin or to focus on our ongoing efforts in the area of giving.
 
*See also our article “The Savvy Samaritan” here.

One Feather at a Time

One Feather at a Time

by | Nov 18, 2018 | Encouragement, Growth

Eagles are magnificent birds. It is easy to see why they are called the “King of the Birds” and, as a result, why various myths have grown up around them.  One of the most commonly heard myths is that after a number of years of life, eagles fly to remote mountain areas where they pluck out all their feathers (and in some versions of the story, even their talons before breaking off their beak) in order to grow new ones over a few months before rising as renewed creatures. 

It may be an inspiring image, but it really has nothing to do with reality.  If eagles lost all their feathers at one time – or even just their large wing pinions – they would be unable to fly, and as raptors they would not survive while the supposed process of transformation took place.  Ornithologists know that eagles do not lose all their feathers at once and become transformed in such a short space of time. In fact, the story really tells us nothing about eagles, but it does tell us a lot about human psychology.  

The process of transformation is not easy. It’s a painful and tiring one that most humans dislike and would gladly avoid if it were possible.  Hence there is appeal in the stories of eagles that are completely renewed in a few months, mythical Phoenix birds that rise, transformed, overnight from their ashes, and so on. They are great stories, but they mainly show how much humans would like transformation to be quick and easy. We want to fast-track the process, skip to the end of the story, and avoid the pain of the slowness of actual change.

So how are eagles transformed? The answer is simple: one feather at a time. Feathers do become worn over time, but eagles and other raptors generally do not pluck them out. Like all other birds, they go through a slow, ongoing process called a molt in which each feather is replaced, one or two at a time. And that is really how we change, too.  And change we must. Christian change or “transformation” is not seeking salvation in works, but seeking to please and honor God in our lives.

The apostle Paul wrote: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2), and: “… we all … are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord …” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Being changed to reflect the nature and character of Christ is one of the great goals that every Christian aims for, but we must be realistic about it.  It is a process of transformation that takes time. Notice that in 2 Corinthians 3:18, above, the ongoing, “ever-increasing” nature of the change is made clear.

It’s easy to become discouraged when we don’t see change occurring quickly in our spiritual lives.  But it is the nature of all real change that we don’t always see it happening before our eyes. The part of our nature we seek to replace is worn away slowly like a stone in a stream – but it is gradually worn away. The part of our nature that is growing to what we want to be is growing like the seed in the earth – we don’t see the growth, but it is happening nonetheless (Mark 4:26-29).  We may know this intellectually, but it is a great key to encouragement to realize at the end of each day, no matter how discouragingly slow our growth may seem, as long as we are continuing to fight against what we have rejected and to work for what we believe – the stone is being worn away, the seed is growing.

We know that according to the plan of God, eventually “We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 and Philippians 3:21).  That is something to which every Christian looks forward. But for now, until we get to that point, transformation comes slowly, with patience: one feather – one small change – at a time.

A Window and a Mirror

A Window and a Mirror

by | Nov 11, 2018 | Bible Study

We take glass for granted –  it’s everywhere in our lives, in windows, windshields, mirrors, bottles and so many other things. But glass is one of the very few solid substances that have the ability to both reflect and transmit light.  We all discover this at an early age, of course, when we catch a glimpse of ourselves or some reflected object in the window we are looking through –  because glass can function both as a window and as a mirror.

The word of God has both those abilities, too.  We can see things “through” it – the stories, lessons, and events it records –  and we can also catch occasional glimpses of ourselves in the way it describes our own human natures and tendencies. 

This dual nature of the Bible –  as both spiritual window and mirror –  is something the Scriptures themselves describe.   The well-known words of the apostle James speak directly about the Bible’s ability to act reflectively as a spiritual mirror, of course: “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like” (James 1:23-24).

Many other scriptures talk about our ability to see things through the word of God, as well.  Paul’s words regarding his own letter to the Ephesians are an example of this: “In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:4). Elsewhere Paul speaks even more specifically about the things we are able to see through the Spirit-inspired word of God:  “… these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10).

So it is clear that the two great purposes of the word of God are to teach us about God and what he has done for humanity, and to teach us what we need to know about ourselves.  And that, of course, is why we study the Bible.   But that is also where we sometimes fall down in not studying as effectively as we could. Often, even devoted Christians fall into the habit of either looking at or through the word, but not both.

For example, if we are not careful it’s easy to just read through the Bible by reading its stories and focusing on them, but not seeing the reflections of ourselves that we frequently need to see.  To do that we have to keep “two hats” on at once, so to speak –  to  be able to read about events, stories and descriptions while constantly watching for aspects that “reflect” on us –  things that are condemned or encouraged that we need to change or to develop.

On the other hand, it is just as possible to focus too much on ourselves in our Bible reading, to mainly think about scriptures that encourage, guide, or even correct us, but at the same time to not focus on the real subject of God’s word – God himself.  God certainly desires to speak to us through his word, but his message is not primarily about us, it’s about him and his plan for his whole creation. 

So if we are mainly looking at our own reflection in our study of the Bible, we are not seeing a major part of its message; though on the other hand, if we are only looking “through the glass” we are missing something very important, too. Effective Bible study consists of a careful balance of these two ways of looking.  If at the end of a session of Bible reading we have only been personally encouraged or corrected but have not learned or been reminded about some aspect of the nature of God, we may have missed seeing something or may need to read a little further.  If we feel we came to better understand some aspect of God’s nature and his dealing with humanity but missed any application in our own lives, we may have missed something, too.

As the apostle Paul wrote: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Scripture gives us both doctrine – things to know – and instruction – things to do.  In order to get both those intended results we need to continually remind ourselves to look both at the glass and through it.

The Apostle Who Didn’t Come to Dinner

The Apostle Who Didn’t Come to Dinner

by | Nov 4, 2018 | Fellowship

​He had been invited, of course – not that he needed an invitation! – and we had saved a place for him.  But he had not come to dinner for the past week, and it was beginning to look as though he would not be coming to dinner again any time soon.  He may just have been busy, of course; any apostle – and especially the chief apostle – must have so many responsibilities. But it was strange, nonetheless. Some were even beginning to wonder if they had offended him, or if fellowship with the Gentile converts was not  a pressing issue just now.  But surely, it couldn’t be, as some had even suggested, that Peter named Cephas viewed us –  the Gentiles – as somehow less than equal in the fellowship of Christ … could it?

In the second  chapter of Galatians  Paul tells the amazing story:

“When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face … For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray” (Galatians 2:11-13).

Paul’s stand against Peter’s hypocrisy must have been a legendary event in the early Church. Paul certainly did not skirt the issue:

“When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?” (Galatians 2:14).

Fortunately, Peter had the humility to accept Paul’s reprimand (something worth thinking about in itself) and changed his behavior – fellowshipping again with the Gentile believers.  Clearly, he learned a valuable lesson, one which lies behind the words written in one of his own epistles years later: “Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers…” (1 Peter 2:17).

But this story is given in the Bible for our admonition, not Peter’s.  Do we avoid certain people in the faith for any reason? Do we not fully accept other believers because of some difference in doctrine or belief?  The apostle Peter made this mistake – are we above it? 

We know that we are to “keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching …” (2 Thessalonians 3:6), but that does not apply to believers who are sincerely trying to do God’s will.  The writings of Paul as well as Luke in the book of Acts make it abundantly clear that Gentile believers were to be fully accepted as brothers and sisters in the faith – even though they may not have had complete doctrinal understanding (Acts 15:28).  

​This principle also applies directly to us, of course, in dealing with fellow believers of other doctrinal persuasions.  We may not agree with each other on things that we consider to be important, but that does not preclude our fellowship and helping one another in the faith.  Even though we may understand that principle intellectually, we must all ask ourselves whether there is some reason we are not showing up for dinner.

* Extracted from our e-book Lessons in Christian Living from the Early Church –  Download a free copy from our sister site, here.