Advent Generosity

This year, our church is participating in the Advent Conspiracy. This organization is dedicated to helping people realize that the meaning of Christmas is not in what we buy or receive, but in how we give ourselves away to others. This isn’t just donating money, but donating time, attention, and space in our hectic schedules. It’s challenging to open ourselves up to others during this time when cash is short and the pressure is on to prove our love for friends and family with gifts and celebration.
Jesus was the greatest gift we could ever receive, now, are we giving our lives away and spreading the joy of this gift, or just greedy for more for ourselves?

Our church is trying to raise $20,000 to dig a well in Rwanda, in the village that one of our sister churches is in. Additionally, we are trying to raise $10,000 to fund The Well ministry which feeds and provides basic essentials for the homeless and poor in the church’s community. We are all being encouraged to really examine why we are buying gifts and what we are trying to say with those gifts. Here’s the Advent Conspiracy Video:

Listening to the sermons and examining my own heart has led me to realize that generosity is not something that I really practice. This week I read in The Glorious Pursuit by Gary L. Thomas the chapter on the virtue of generosity entitled: “Positive Possession.” Thomas makes several very good points about how materialism and things can drag us down and send us into a damaging tail spin where we become self-focused and are always seeking the approval of others.

“If your aim is to receive, you’re going to be disappointed most of the time. We live in a world that is much too preoccupied with itself to pay others much attention. If your aim is to give, if you find your enjoyment in encouraging others, you will never want for fulfillment; there will always be plenty to give.”

Proverbs 22 has some interesting things to say about riches and generosity:

1: A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

9: The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.

16: One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.

I guess the question I ran into is how I want to be viewed by others. Do I really need the approval and gratitude of others to make me feel good, or is my worth determined by my Savior and God? Am I giving presents to others because I want to curry favor with them, or is it born from a deep sense of generosity in my heart? I have to admit, most of the time, I really want the accolades and compliments. I am giving so that I can receive. I want the good name and the favorable opinion of others rather than the blessing of God.

However, joy and contentment are not based on our situation in life. There are wealthy people who are happy and there are wealthy people who are miserable. There are poor people who are happy and there are poor people who are miserable. There is something else at play here and a lot of it is tied to our possessions and how we value them. We have to have possessions. We need clothes and cars to get to work in. We can desire these things, but our trouble comes when we desire them out of proportion to their true worth.

This doesn’t mean we just give everything away and live with no possessions though. Thomas says that the hermits who went into the desert to avoid possessions that would knit themselves to the world made a mistake because, “In the desert there is nothing to buy, but there is also no chance to give.”

Here’s the thing. Christmas is all about giving. It’s where the Grinch learns that it is better to give than to receive. But often times we get lost in the shopping and commercialization and pressure to give, and then we don’t really experience joy when we give, but discontentment with gifts we receive ad the bills that pile up and send us into a financial panic in January. Paul says in Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” He is speaking to the elders in Ephesus and encouraging them to detach themselves from the things that use to give them value (wealth, possessions) and to attach themselves to God by giving their things away and becoming dependent on Him for their needs.

So this Christmas, the Advent Conspiracy hasn’t made me want to not shop or get gifts for others, but it has given me a new perspective on why giving is important. There probably aren’t many people who die wishing they had bought more things for their family members, but that they had spent more time with others. Relationships and investing in others take the focus off of ourselves, and seek to lift others up and bless them. This is what God was promising to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Not because they would see how cool Abraham was and want to be like him, but because Abraham would have such an intense focus on God that he would usher others into the presence of the holy whenever he was around them.

This Christmas, it’s not about us, it’s about the God who became man and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14), so that we could enter into a good and holy relationship with Him.

This Christmas it’s not about scoring the great deals or giving the best presents, it’s about being present with others in the same way God is present with us. It’s about noticing others, seeing their needs, and seeking to give of our time, attention, and money because God has given us so much already.

“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul (Matthew 16:25-26)?”

We discover who we are when we give ourselves away for the purposes of God’s kingdom and not for our own sinful desires. Let’s make this Advent season not about ourselves, but about how we can serve and give to others because of how God has already blessed us.