God Speaking

“A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor”

(Proverbs 22: 9)

Some friends and I were discussing how some of our husbands seem to be oblivious to the cost of buying everyday necessities and my husband probably topped the list. Since retiring he frequently accompanies me while doing the weekly grocery shopping and when we reach the check out, I am surprised to see in my buggy, several items not on my list, and when I question him as to how expensive they were, he looks at me in bewilderment, as of course actually checking the labels to see the price had not even occurred to him.  At the same time, he is the most generous man I have ever come across, so I pay for his crazy shopping and hold my tongue. (Sometimes!)

There are some very interesting stories in Scripture about how people view generosity and one of the most beautiful stories is the gift given by Mary when she anoints Jesus’ feet with a very expensive oil, not even thinking about the enormous cost it would have been to buy.

“Then Mary took about a pint of pure lard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” (John 12: 3)

Now not all those who were watching were impressed with her generosity and Judas Iscariot immediately began complaining about the waste of money, but as John tells us he had been helping himself from the common money bag.

“But one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” (John 12:4)

Mary’s gift of love, not counting the cost is a beautiful example for all of us to heed.

Not counting the cost is not always about money, sometimes we are asked to step into a situation that we know will have a certain cost, perhaps of our time, our talent our giving up of some pleasure we want to pursue. Volunteering in any capacity is one of those situations. Often when we hear of a need in our community, our first thoughts are about the cost for us, what will we have to give up responding to the need?  Do I want to become involved?  Will it tie me down?

The story that Jesus told of the Good Samaritan, also illustrates what it costs to show the Lord’s love to others. The first person to see someone who had been robbed and beaten lying on the roadway, was a priest and yet he decided it would cost too much to get involved and ignored the injured man. The next passer by, a Levite, also decided, checking on someone was going to interfere with his day, and ignored the man. A Samaritan, who the Jews looked down upon, sees an opportunity, without thinking about himself, to give of his time and money to help the one in need. After Jesus tells this story he asks his listeners as to which traveller was a neighbour to the one beset upon by the robbers and of course they must reply.

“The one who had mercy on him” (Luke 10: 37)

Following the Lord’s commands does require some cost to us, but the rewards of sharing his love with others is a closer walk with him