It seems like they are there for others not because they have nothing better to do. Most of the time they don't even have the resources to help but they somehow manage to do so as well. How do they even manage?
I've you've ever even tried to be a "superhero" before, you'll realise that it's impossible to do so without being troubled or worried. At some point you'll even question whether it's all wrothwhile or whether troubling yourself for others matters. It's safe to say that people that continue to do so aren't people that are looking for recognition or appreciation.
So what makes people like such carry on? What makes a person, what we define as, a strong person?
I believe a person like such, someone with a generous spirit, doesn't come by self-discipline or determination but it comes from a place of wholesomeness. You can't give love if you don't have love.
Get to the end of this post, and I can assure you you'll be more wholesome after than before you read this.
Come with me if you want to live - Terminator 2
Christ has given us purpose, meaning, and an identity as His children. An inheritor of His kingdom. He took what we deserve, judgement of sin, and gave us what He deserved, righteouness by grace.
To have a generous spirit, you have to first understand what grace is. A generous spirit, being strong wholesomely and not from a place of striving for significance, is a gift and cannot be gain otherwise except to simply, receieve.
What is GRACE?
Imagine you are driving on the highway rushing for a very urgent/important reason and you're running your car at 90mph but the speed limit is 60mph. A police officer stops you and you pull aside pleeding your case with him, saying you're in a hurry and really sorry about it and you understand what your offense is. He looks at you and says he'll let you off the hook this time without a ticket and tells you to drive safely.
Again a same scenario where you've got a speeding offense and a police officer stops you. You pull aside and before you even start saying sorry and what-not, he hands you a cheque of a thousand dollars and rides away in his bike.
Puzzling ain't it?
In scenario 1 this describes the mercy of God. Even in our mistakes He'll still show us mercy and will extend mercy whenever we ask for it. However, in scene 2, what we see is grace. The story is always much shorter when it comes to grace as 'grace' has nothing to do with us pleading our case or reasoning with Him. It has everything to do with Him. He chose to love us, often without much explanation except He loves us.
The glorious adventure is that the gift (1000 dollars) isn't just a gift in it of itself but rather an invitation welcoming us to seek further, go deeper as to why scenario 2 ended the way it ended. It is the beginning of the new life He has given you.
Puzzling ain't it?
You have to understand that scenario 2 has been given to mankind as a whole but a personal invitation to you as an individual. God has extended His love to you through Christ and not just in Christ but through present life, God continues to whisper His love welcoming whoever to come and rest.
What is crucial here? A response.
The scandal here is that God became a Man. Jesus Christ was the response to God's extension. He sealed humanities fate (death the price of sin) with His own blood, breaking the power of sin over our lives and making us righteous. In His act of glory, we, mankind, have been mystically mashed into a union with God and righteousness before we could even exercise choice to participate in it! WTFUDGE?!
And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one - John 17:22
A lot of us Christians read the word, understand the words gramatically and word wise but the depth of what those words mean, e.g. glory, grace, kingdom, are only revealed through relationship. The invitation was, and is and will always be OPEN! What are you waiting for?
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. - 1 Corinthians 13:12
So anyone can be generous right? Yep you're right. But what is shown on the outside doesn't necessarily reflect what's going on on the inside. Many do good or are charitable not because they care about the person or community they are doing good to but simple because they wanna feel good about themselves. Some do it because they are gonna be taxed anyway at the end of the year, so might as well give it to charity.
Does doing good to others make us feel good? Of course it does. However the value of what is not seen will be tested. It'll be tested by time. It'll be tested by people. Especially by people whom you've been generous to. And what is the test here? The condition of your heart to be revealed.
Not to shame us. Not to make us feel bad that we are actually selfish or doing good from and unwholesome place. But to free us from the bondage of performance and unwholesome living. This way of doing good or "being good" is a life driven by fear and not of freedom. It is not our portion!
If you've lived like this thinking that it's "Christian living", let me tell you, you've been duped by the enemy. Because the enemy is scared of the damage of what a child of God can really do if we start to live by the Spirit and not in our flesh (striving).
Striving for significance only undermines our significance. - Bill Johnson
A generous spirit is a state of being not a state of doing. A state only accessable by grace which is your birthright!
Our minds have been filled with a lot of ideas and opinions fed through so many different outlets. I want to encourage you to intentionally tune in to what He is speaking and hearing Him the loudest, fleeing from religious practices and beliefs. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and He will lead us into all truth.
Take time to go deeper and to seek further the promises which you have in Him.
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Previous Frameworks: Frameworks Issue #18: Counterfeit Love - Detox Your Mind
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