And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. 2 Thessalonians 3:13
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, Matthew 6:3
I wrote this blog several days ago, but I had a check in my spirit. Thoughts usually pop into my head and flow out through my fingers. They did, but it was backwards. I wrote everything, but there wasn’t a specific experience I was getting called to write about. I felt like I shouldn’t put words out there just to have another post, so I waited. It reinforced an important lesson to me about benevolence. It’s personal. It isn’t about discussing, it’s about doing. Quietly. Without recognition. It’s not for a pat on the back. It’s not to make us feel proud, but to be God’s hands. The focus wasn’t to be about something a particular person did, but Who led us to do it. Now on with the rest…
We all face needs in our lives. It could be monetary, emotional, or spiritual. It shouldn’t make us feel inferior, yet sometimes it does. It teaches us to be sensitive to when others are in need. I like to think of helping as giving a gift, not charity. It doesn’t have to do with feeling pity for someone; it has to do with passing on God’s blessings to them. We’re simply God’s hands during this time. It’s great to do things anonymously so the focus on needs being met isn’t by a person, but by God. There isn’t awkwardness from either side this way.
In the seasons of plenty, there’s more to give. In the seasons of lean times, we learn. This is when it’s especially important that we don’t stop giving. We need to get out of our self-made pity parties and help our brothers and sisters. It’ll give us a new perspective on our own issues.
Money provides for many things, but it isn’t the only way to fulfill needs. Get creative! Provide a meal to a busy family or invite someone who is hungry or lonely over for a meal. Drive someone to the grocery store that can’t get there on their own. Use your gifts to benefit others; it could be organizing, passing food out with love, giving a free haircut, teaching interviewing skills, etc.
The character trait for today is Benevolence-giving to others’ basic needs without having as my motive personal reward (definition from characterfirst.com).
If there was a picture in the dictionary under benevolence, I think it would be Mother Teresa. She had much wisdom to share when discussing benevolence. Here are a few of the many quotes she provided us with:
- We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
- It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.
- Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.
- We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.
Today, give with love. Start in your own home, as Mother Teresa tells us to, and let your actions spread like ripples on a pond. Allow God to guide your hands so they are working as His here on earth. Work tirelessly without seeking credit just to feel important.
