Cheerful Giving Requires Humble Taking

A common theme in our conversations lately has been about seasons of giving and taking. We all go through these seasons - sometimes we need to be able to humbly accept what is being offered to us and other times we need to be able to give from our abundance to others in need. I would venture to say we are much better about giving than taking. Giving makes us feel good, fulfilling a God-given and innate need for us to offer our things and ourselves for the good of others. God loves a cheerful giver, right? Taking makes us feel vulnerable, weak and useless. The Bible never mentions God loving a cheerful taker. Yet with all the mention of widows, blind men, lepers, the hungry, the sick and the ever-present poor, they all had to be takers at some point in their life.

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." Luke 17:11-19

The thankful leper didn't compare himself to the other nine lepers and think he wasn't as worthy to receive Christ's healing as they were. Who knows how afflicted he was compared to his fellow lepers? Maybe he had more skin lesions than they did, maybe much less - it doesn't matter though. He obeyed Christ's command, realized he had been healed and came back to thank Jesus. He not only received complete physical healing, but in coming back, he received spiritual healing as well. In our seasons of need, let us not refuse to take the offerings of others. Instead use these times for reflection on our ultimate dependence on God and recognizing and thanking those He uses as instruments of His charity and grace. 

As Christians, we are commanded to take care of each other and "to love our neighbor as ourselves."1 If the world judges our faith by how we treat each other, we must take great care in watching out for each other and providing for each other. By loving each other and acting like the early church, we will be greater witnesses of Christ's love to those inside and outside our Christian community. So let us love each other. Let us need one another. Let us meet each others' needs "and so fulfill the law of Christ."2

1. From Mark 12:31a

2. From Galatians 6:2

Young, Hip and Teachers of Good Things

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers,  not given to much wine, teachers of good things;  That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands,  to love their children,  To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands,  that the word of God be not blasphemed.   Titus 2. 3-5

 Whether you grow up in the church or became a believer as an adult, eventually you come across the passage in Titus 2 that admonishes one to find or become a  Titus 2 woman.  What is a Titus 2 woman, you may ask?  Well, according to titustwo.net it states: For women, Titus chapter two addresses two seasons in our lives. When we are younger, and when we are older. As older women we are to model and encourage good things to those younger than us. As younger women, we are to look to older women for wisdom and encouragement to do that which is good and right.  The way this passage is written, we can surmise that older women are ones who have already raised children and are in a position of experience to encourage younger women.  The funny thing is the life stage I find myself in (like many of us Kajijis Girls) is not being quite old exactly and having the ability to freely take on the mantle of the "older woman" and still being smack-dab in the middle of raising very young children and feeling very much like the "younger woman".  Truth be told, I'm in denial about how old I really am and prefer to still think of myself as a young, hip mama.  However, in today's society where motherhood is put off so much later than when this particular Bible passage was written, we are caught between being both women, the one with enough experience to encourage those younger than us yet still craving the necessary instruction of those whose footsteps we follow behind.  Titustwo.net goes on to say this:  All of us, no matter how old we are, are older than someone else. It's important to realize that no matter how old or young we are, we always have a younger audience.

Carolyn McCulley in her blog post titled Where's My Older Woman? says, "You know those times where someone says something and God bursts his light into an area of darkness in your heart? I had one, big time! A dear friend responded to the above scripture with words that both convicted me and encouraged me to repent. For many readers, I trust they'll do the same for you. She said, simply:

"So many times I've read Titus 2, about the older women training the younger, and immediately thought, ‘So where's my older woman, God?' Never did I ask him who my younger woman was."

This, sadly, is how I have responded for most of my Christian life. I felt certain that some elusive, godly grandmother type (preferably a pastor's wife) needed to take me under her wing and teach me how to be godly just like her. If I'm really honest with you, I have often believed that I simply couldn't be a godly woman myself until that older woman appeared. What a tricky deception!"

Carolyn's blog posting on this topic was both convicting and inspiring, and I encourage you to read the entire post here at The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood (Sounds official...and cool, doesn't it?  I look forward to delving more into this site and seeing what else they have.) So do you have a Titus 2 relationship with anyone yet?  Do you find you're the mentor or the mentee?  Or a little bit of both maybe?