The Power of An Unexpected Gift (New Angles on the Nativity Pt. 3)

By Ife J. Ibitayo

I once lost my ID. I’d been hustling my way through the airport, trying to catch a flight, when I flashed my ID to a TSA agent. Somewhere in the bustle of unpacking my luggage at security and boarding my flight, my ID vanished. But I didn’t even know this had occurred until I received a mysterious letter in the mail.

I opened the thin envelope and found my ID card wrapped in a note. The stranger told me about how they’d found my identification and decided to mail it to me. They also shared the love of Jesus Christ. I was already a Christian at the time, but the gratitude that flooded my heart was close to a conversion experience.

The Most Unexpected Gift

I remembered this story as I was shopping for Christmas presents for my family. I realized that the best presents we receive are often things we never knew we needed, but once we receive them, we don’t know how we lived without them. The greatest example of that is the love of Jesus Christ.

Many of us walk through life with holes in our souls. Because of our relationship—or lack thereof—with our parents, we feel unloved and unwanted. Or discrimination we’ve faced on the job has blasted gaping holes in our self-worth. Or our sweetheart bitterly broke our heart this holiday season. We’ve tried to fill this hole with just the right present—fresh kicks, a new car, or a bigger house—or presence—a new lover, a new boss, or a new friend. But the hole within us hasn’t just remained, it’s grown larger until the whole of us is empty. But then Jesus crawls down the chimneys of our hearts lugging an unexpected present: a cross.

He left His home so that He could bring us home. He gave up His family so that He could make us family. And He sacrificed His life so that we could truly live. He gave the only gift that could truly fill our void: Himself.

Conclusion

Which brings me to my second story. This year, I knew a small group who wrapped Christmas presents for college students on campus. They spent over a month filling the boxes with goodies and writing personalized letters as they prepared for the day when they would hand deliver them to the students who would receive them. But at the last minute, they were notified that someone else would be giving those presents to the students. These young men never got the chance to see the impact their unexpected gifts would make in the lives of others.

But the power of an unexpected gift always carries wings. It will last for years in the memories of those blessed by it. It will spread from person to person, family to family, and even nation to nation as countless others share its story. And it will live on in our hearts just like the love of that precious baby boy who was born in a manger 2000 years ago.

“Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”

(2 Corinthians 9:15)

Mary’s Magnificat Faith (New Angles on the Nativity Pt. 2)

By Ife J. Ibitayo

In the space of less than six months, an incredible set of coincidences occurred. The same angel declared two separate miraculous births to two righteous people who lived less than two hundred miles from each other. These two people were the elderly Zechariah and his teenage cousin Mary.

The awesome glory of the angel terrified Zechariah as the being said, “‘Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John’” (Luke 1:13). Skeptically, Zechariah asked, “‘How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years’” (Luke 1:18).

The angel replied, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was He who sent me to bring you this good news! But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time’” (Luke 1:19-20).

Conversely, in this same chapter, the angel Gabriel told the virgin, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name Him Jesus’” (Luke 1:30-31).

She replied, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true” (Luke 1:38). And soon after she burst into song, singing her famous Magnificat (Luke 1:46-56).

Silencing Doubt

What separated Zechariah from Mary? Was it their age, their gender? Are old men more cynical than young women? Was it the fact that the promise Zechariah received was an answer to his personal plea while Mary’s was an answer to their nation’s prayers?

I pondered these questions as I poured over this chapter. I sympathize with Zechariah’s plight. After a lifetime of waiting, trusting, and hoping, probably long after he’d given up on his dream of being called “Daddy”, he was told his wish would finally be granted. But he’d have to wait nine months to find out whether the angel’s words would prove true.

Faith is hard. I’ve had faith for many things that fell through, from college applications to romantic relationships to job opportunities. A band I used to listen to has an album called, “How Do You Fix What’s Not Easily Broken?” And I ask myself that question daily as I try to salvage the shards of broken promises. How many more times had Zechariah had to ask that question at the end of his long life on this bitter earth?

But our lack of faith does not stop God’s faithfulness! God did not retract His promise to Zechariah in spite of his faithlessness. Instead, He silenced him.

Vocal Faith

Turning to Mary, we can see her childlike faith. When an angel told her that she’d be the first virgin to give birth to a child, she believed that Almighty God was well able to do what He’d promised. Therefore she believed in her heart and declared with her mouth, “God took notice of His lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and He has done great things for me’” (Luke 1:48-49).

Conclusion

Tellingly, when Zechariah’s tongue was loosed nine months later, the first words out of his mouth were praises to God as well. “‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come to His people and redeemed them’” (Luke 1:68). When God makes a promise to us, He will keep it. So we can either praise Him now in faith. Or we can let our doubts silence us until He proves Himself faithful.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

(Hebrews 11:6)

Joseph’s Shame and Glory (New Angles on the Nativity Pt. 1)

By Ife J. Ibitayo

The most underappreciated character in the nativity story may very well be Joseph. This man scraped by for decades to earn enough money to afford the bridal price of a very special woman. He’d walked so uprightly all his days that the Bible declared him to be dikaios, meaning “righteous in the eyes of God” (Matthew 1:19).  And the time had finally arrived for him to become a husband and a father. Then, he found out that the love of his life must have made love with another man.

While he was still grieving his loss, an angel of the LORD appeared to him in a dream and said, “‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins’” (Matthew 1:20-21). Joseph responded to this charge in two tremendous ways: obedience and patience.

Faith-Filled Obedience

Matthew 1:24 says, “When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary has his wife.” For many believers reading the Bible today, his response seems perfectly natural. We think, “If I had seen an angel, I would have married Mary too.” But imagine trying to explain the situation to your buddies. “I married a pregnant woman because God told me that He’d impregnated her.” If they didn’t lock you up in an insane asylum, you’d instantly become the laughingstock of your entire village! Yet Joseph still believed what God had told Him.

Reading the Hall of Faith this past week, I was astounded by the strangeness of the activities men and women completed in the name of faith. A man left all he ever knew to go to a place he didn’t know to give an inheritance he’d never see to a son he didn’t yet have (Hebrews 11:8-9)! Another man built a boat to ride waves higher than the mountains and waited for a storm that didn’t come for over half a century (Hebrews 11:7). And now Joseph was being told to believe that his betrothed was bearing the literal son of God. In faith, Joseph accepted current disgrace so that he could embrace future glory.

Painful Patience

Secondly, Matthew 1:25 says, “Joseph did not have sexual relations with Mary until her son was born.” Most of us can’t wait to have sex until after we’re married. Imagine not being able to have it until almost a full year after that! But one of the most important lessons of the kingdom is that patience precedes promotion.

Joseph’s patience ensured that no one could call Jesus’ divinity into question on account of him. And more than that, it allowed him to become the adopted father of God Himself. The harder the season of waiting, the greater the glory of receiving. That is why apostle Paul says, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Conclusion

When we talk about Christmas, we often remember the person of Jesus. Then we celebrate Mary. But we neglect Joseph. This righteous man sacrificed all and waited long to father the Messiah of the world. If that isn’t a glorious example to emulate, I don’t know what is!

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

(Romans 8:18)

The Most Dangerous Weapon in the World

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Highs and lows have filled my holiday season. I relaxed with my parents while we watched a blockbuster movie. Then I rushed to the toilet as my dinner found a new home. I played video games with my little brother on my laptop. Then I cursed that same machine for suddenly bricking out on me. Turbulence was my only constant during this past Thanksgiving holiday.

And the same is true for our nation. Within the space of one short week, we celebrated justice as three guilty men were condemned and decried injustice as one guilty man walked free. Or was it three innocent men who were condemned and one innocent man exonerated as many assert? Have I gone too far? Should I just stop talking politics and stick to the Bible?

Dangerous Speech

Speaking of the Bible, John the Baptist was murdered for denouncing injustice. He was incarcerated and eventually beheaded because he called out King Herod for marrying his brother’s former wife. I sat in church one Sunday and heard a message that heaped the blame onto John the Baptist for “veering out of his lane.” His calling was to be Jesus’ forerunner, to prepare the way for the Messiah. But once he’d finished his job, he ran out of topics to cover. So he started speaking on things he had no business talking about. And that was why he was killed (Mark 6:17-18). But since when did the living Word become divorced from the lives we live?

Dangerous Silence

Some say that the Bible is silent on many issues that stir the hearts of Americans today. And they argue, “Where the Bible is silent, we are silent.” But that logic doesn’t hold water. Consider if a mother commands her son not to punch his brother. Then the child starts slapping his sister. When his mother sits in him timeout, does it really make sense for her son to argue, “But you never send anything about punching my sister?”

The same principle applies to the Bible. Some say that the Bible says nothing about abortion. Yet the Bible says, “‘Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image’” (Genesis 9:6). Just because this verse does not explicitly refer to “man” as “helpless baby” doesn’t mean that the Bible says nothing about abortion. Likewise, even though the Bible does not explicitly say “you shall not target other people on the basis of their class, gender, or ethnicity,” it does say, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself. For love does no wrong to one’s neighbor” (Romans 13:9-10).

Conclusion

When Christianity is constrained to Sunday services and church buildings, it becomes dangerously close to a prescription drug we take on a weekly basis. ” But it was crafted to be a “sword that pierces our very souls” (Hebrews 4:12). If we let the Bible dictate the way we view all aspects of our lives–from the way we treat our families, to the way we work our jobs, and even, dare I say, the way we view politics–then it becomes the most dangerous weapon in the world.

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”

(James 1:22)

The Day the LORD Has Made

By Ife J. Ibitayo

“This is the day the LORD has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). This verse is so oft-repeated, especially during the Thanksgiving season, that it’s been drained of some of its gripping power. Some might breathe a sigh of relief as this month gives way to the next, as if to say, “Now that November has passed, I can stop being thankful.” But November was never intended to be our single month of thanksgiving each year. Rather, it stands as a reminder of what we should be doing each and every day.

James Madison once said, “No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events and of the Destiny of Nations than the people of the United States…He protected and cherished them under all the difficulties and trials to which they were exposed in their early days.” And not only in the early days, but now as well. We’ve braved the pandemic, protests, and politics of these past couple years, and we’re still here. We’re still breathing, when so many millions are not.

As we sliced the turkey and shoveled food onto our plates earlier this week, I had a new appreciation for the simple things. Food and family, camaraderie and champagne, laughter and love all make life worth living.

 This coming week, we return to work, school, and stress. Life will flood back in. But let’s not let it drown out our many reasons for gratitude. For this is still the day the LORD has made!

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

(Philippians 4:4)

Happy Heart, Happy Life

By Ife J. Ibitayo

I read a proverb last week that said, “For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast” (Proverbs 15:15). And I paused to soak in this truth.

Five years ago, I would have said that 60% of happiness is caused by circumstances, 30% genetics, and 10% or less by choice. And many people would agree with this sentiment. “I’m unhappy because I have an anal boss, a horrible wife, and terrible kids.” “I’m unhappy because I’m not married yet and I don’t have a six-figure salary yet and I haven’t retired yet.” We believe our emotions are tethered to our wind-blown circumstances.

But science has shown that only 10% of our happiness is tied to our circumstances. Of the remaining 90%, 50% is related to our genes, and the remaining 40% is up to our conscious choices.

There are many articles out there that list ways to feel happier. A quick Google search will reveal titles like “25 Ways to Feel Happier in the Next Five Minutes” and “4 Proven Ways You Can Feel Happier.” But we often don’t spend enough time diagnosing why we’re feeling sad in the first place.

A Complaining Heart

A major culprit is complaining. Complaining is more than the words we say or the thoughts we harbor. Grumbling is an attitude of the spirit that silently paints the way we view the world. When I allow my mind to focus on the negative aspects of my life, I will minimize the positive. Most of us can allow one single thing going wrong in our lives to negate all the things that are going well. We may have amazing work-life balance but not be making as much as our wealthy neighbors. We might have two children who are successful but one who is struggling to find their way. God’s grace is so emphatic that most things tend to be going well at most times, but we struggle to thank Him because not everything is going well all the time.

A Jealous Heart

The second major culprit is comparison. One of the most gripping stories in the New Testament takes place after Jesus’ resurrection. As He’s walking by the Sea of Galilee with His disciples, Jesus told Peter he would suffer a horrible death. Peter immediately pointed at another disciple and asked, “What about him?”

Jesus replied, “What does that have to do with you? You follow me” (John 21:18-22)!

God has a chosen lot for each of us: Poverty or riches, sickness or health, tragedy or glory. Forest Gump really was right to say, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’ll get.” But God fashioned us specially for the box we received. Even though we think that trading our box for another’s will make us happier, we don’t know if it will make us better. And, just maybe, forcing down a couple bittersweet squares is the only way our palate can be prepared to savor a Maltese truffle.

Conclusion

The title for this article was inspired by the popular saying: “Happy wife, happy life.” As the saying implies, good life circumstances can buoy our emotions. Getting married, winning the lottery, or having a baby can all temporarily increase our happiness. But if your heart holds onto sadness, your quality of life will plummet back down to earth eventually. However, if your heart stores up joy, come rain or sunshine, you really can have a happy life.

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

The Miserable Mystery and the Marvelous One

By Ife J. Ibitayo

I love reading mysteries. My favorite book is Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge, a sci-fi murder mystery set in the ever-further future. Just as soon as you think you’ve figured out who the killer is, a new wrinkle enters the picture. The author is always one step ahead, breathlessly carrying you along until the ecstatic climax when all the puzzle pieces fall into place. I love reading mysteries, but I hate living them.

I’ve always snobbishly looked down on those who skip to the last chapter of books, having to know the end from the beginning. But if I had the novel of my life, you know I’d already be there! I can’t stand the real-life tension of not knowing.

Miserable Mystery

But life is full of mysteries. I don’t know when I’ll meet my special someone. I don’t know if I’ll be fired next fall or promoted next spring. I wake up each day not knowing if it will contain sorrow or joy. And this stresses me out to no end! How can you control what you can’t understand?

Then there’s God, the most unfathomable being in all existence. God declares to us, “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9). Therefore, God is inherently other. Jesus is not Superman, the paragon of mankind, an example of what humanity at its best looks like. Rather, He is a being so beyond our imagination that we can only glimpse a shadow of His true nature.

And so, I’m tempted to despair. If my life is in the hands of a being beyond my comprehension, how can I know the outcome of all my sufferings and hardships, my trials and tears, my burdens and sacrifices?

Marvelous Mystery

The apostle Paul, arguably the most brilliant theologian who’s ever lived, was also confronted by the mystery of our God: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgements, and His paths beyond tracing out” (Romans 11:33)! But his response was very different from my own. He cried, “To Him be the glory forever!” (Romans 11:36).

Paul rejoiced in a God beyond His comprehension because that offered the perfect explanation to the inexplicable. Only a transcendent God can redeem our terrible circumstances. Good men can mitigate others’ personal hardships. Good countries can ameliorate a suffering world’s issues. But only a good God far above everything can keep this promise: “I cause everything to work together for the good of those who love Me” (Romans 8:28).

Conclusion

In a TV show I watched, I was struck by a particular scene between a mother, who was a district attorney, and her daughter. The daughter kept asking her mother for answers concerning a young woman who was wrongfully murdered. But her mother said she had her reasons for not giving them to her. However, her daughter hacked into her computer. Then she understood why her mother was acting the way she was. When her mother found out about this, her daughter asked her, “Why didn’t you just tell me?” And her mother replied, “Why didn’t you just trust me?”

There are millions of mysteries with millions of answers that we’ll never know here on this earth. We can spend our lives asking God, “Why didn’t you just tell me?” Or we can believe that even more than any mother, any district attorney, or any superhero, our God is trustworthy.

“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”

(Ecclesiastes 11:5)

It is Well?

By Ife J. Ibitayo

November is the month of gratitude. Ever year we take this opportunity to commemorate God’s goodness over the past ten months. But I’ve been wondering, does that make sense in 2021?

By early October, more people had died from COVID this year than in 2020. Our great nation has wrought tragedy in Afghanistan and at the border. Wildfires, hurricanes, and earthquakes have shaken countries across the globe. And the pangs of injustice continue to reverberate as jury selection for Ahmaud Arbery’s shooting stumbles along. 

On a personal note, 2021 has been one of my most brutal years yet. Crippling heartbreak, debilitating loneliness, and mind-snapping stress all marked this past year for me. I resonate deeply with the laments of Jeremiah in his heart-rending Lamentations: “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me” (Lamentations 3:19-20).

And so, I ask again, does gratitude make sense this year?

Though Trials Should Come

My question rests upon the false premise that ease is normal and suffering abnormal. I grew up in a happy, upper-middle class home in Hispanic suburbia. I never wanted for food or home. I wasn’t bullied at school, and I succeeded academically. This blissful bubble was part of the reason why I was shocked by the hardships I experienced in college, grad school, and beyond.

Jesus Himself said, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows” (John 16:33). The apostles added, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). And Apostle Paul concluded, “You know that we are destined for such troubles” (1 Thessalonians 3:3). The overwhelming assertion of the Bible is that life on this earth will be filled with grueling challenges and soul-rending let downs.

Whatever My Lot

And yet, we often forget this because we swim in the deep seas of God’s benevolent mercies. Matthew 5:45 says, “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” It’s only when the sun fails and the rain dries up that we look up, remember God, and curse Him.

Many days I found myself face down in the carpet, crying out to God to relieve my romantic anguish. But only from that low vantage point could I see with new appreciation the ready acceptance and love I receive from my friends and family. Only when I was cooped up in my apartment for several agonizing months did I realize how much I took for granted the weekly graces of church and fellowship. Suffering did not black out my reasons for gratitude but threw them in stark relief.

It Is Well

I remember the story of Horatio Spafford, a successful lawyer and businessman who lived a couple hundred years ago. He had it all, a loving family and a thriving company. But then, in an instant, he didn’t.

First, his young son died of pneumonia. Then the great Chicago fire decimated his business. Then a day before Thanksgiving Day 1873, he lost all four of his daughters in a horrendous ocean liner accident.

On his way to his grieving wife, he penned these famous words: “When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.”

I’ve come to believe that gratitude is less a product of our physical position than our spiritual perspective. Yes, these past couple years have been terrible. But my God has been good. He was good to me before 2020, and He’s been good to me during 2021. And He will continue to be good to me next year and forevermore.

“Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in this life.”

(Ecclesiastes 7:14)

Goldfish from Heaven

By Ife J. Ibitayo

There is one snack I’ve never grown tired of. These orange, fish-shaped munchables come equipped with a quirky grin. I even remember the jingle: “The snack that smiles back: Goldfish.” But as I wrapped up my shopping at Wal-Mart this past week, I realized how creepy a concept that is.

We often go out of our way to make food look as little like the original animal as we can. We don’t want to see the strangled chicken or the gutted cow or the suffocated fish with its glassy eyes. When we see such things, it reminds us of the pain the creature experienced to become our sustenance. Yet cheddar goldfish gladly smiles at us as we mangle, pound, and chew away at it.

The Mangling, Pounding and Chewing of Jesus

Using similarly graphic language, Jesus said, “Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink” (John 6:54-55).

In an Old Testament passage on the suffering servant, the prophet Isaiah says, “He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). In order to become our salvific supper, Jesus’ back was mangled by lashes, His wrists pounded by nails, and His back chewed up by a rough, splintering cross.

The Smile of Jesus

Yet the prophet Isaiah goes on to say, “the Lord was pleased to crush Him severely” (Isaiah 53:10). The Father actually delighted in crushing His Son on the cross. And even Jesus Himself, “for the joy set before Him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). What’s going on here?

God loves us so much that He was willing to become our divine goldfish, our sacred snack that smiles back. As He suffered for our sins, He smiled because He knew that His beating would mean our healing (Isaiah 53:5), His abandonment our adoption (Galatians 4:4-5), and His death our life (Romans 6:4).

Conclusion

I lied. There are actually two snacks I’ve never grown tired of throughout the years. The second, the goldfish from heaven, is not a meal to be partaken once but every day. As we enter into this coming month of November, let’s start—not end—with Thanksgiving. Let’s appreciate and worship our Savior who rejoiced as He suffered for sinners like you and me.

“Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by his wounds we are healed.

“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life an offering for sin, He will see His offspring and prolong His days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand.”

(Isaiah 53:4-5, 11)

Impossible Perfection, Possible Generosity

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)