By Ife J. Ibitayo
I don’t find generosity as easy as I thought I would. We’re in the middle of a pandemic and still reeling from the greatest drop in national GDP since the Great Depression. And here I sit, a young, gainfully employed bachelor without any meaningful dependents.
I live in one of the top ten wealthiest counties in the United States in the richest country in the world. While families have been scraping by to put food on the table, I’ve been eating out every week. While unemployed millions struggled to pay enough their bills to make it to the end of last year, I bought a new laptop for Christmas. What is wrong with me? But let’s be real, my story is not all that unique. What is wrong with us?
Impossible Perfection
I’ve been thinking about the story of the rich young ruler a lot recently. There once was a young man with power, money, and authority who approached Jesus. He had lived his entire life righteously, and yet he still felt he was lacking something. Jesus knew what that something was, so He told the young man, “‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me’” (Matthew 19:21).
I think this is one of the hardest sayings in the Bible. We’ve spent decades of our lives earning our keep. We love our house in the suburbs with our blue Ford F-150 and our new Apple iPhone. We relish waking up in our own bed, drinking our morning coffee from our special mug, and typing away on our precious laptop. Yet we forget our impoverished neighbor. We pass by on the other side of the road as they shiver their nights away beside the Walmart down the street.
This is not so much a call to action as a plea for introspection. Why can’t I sell my phone, my car, or even my house to love my neighbor? Is this too high an ask for anyone? I’m clearly being unrealistic, aren’t I? Yet this is exactly how the early church lived. Acts 4:34 says. “There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them.”
Possible Generosity
One of the most quoted verses of the Bible is Matthew 19:26, “‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” Unfortunately, the context of this verse is often lost as well. Notice that this saying is only five verses after the story of the rich young ruler. Upon hearing the steep cost of perfection, the young man left in great sadness. Then Jesus declared how impossible it was for the rich like you and I to enter into heaven. But when the disciples asked who then could be saved, Jesus replied with this promise.
In my own strength, I can only close my fists tighter and tighter, no matter how hard I try to open them. But God is love, and if I surrender myself and my riches to Him, then I have a sliver of a chance of loving others the same way He does.
“Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.”
(2 Timothy 6:17-19)