Over at the Rich’s Ride blog I’ve been talking about our upcoming Front Range FREEDOM Tour 2013. You should click the link and check it out.
Becky and I have answered a lot of questions about the ride over the past few weeks. Those discussions got me thinking back to Jesus’ words in Luke 6:38:
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
I think we tend to read this as Give so that it will be given unto you. Jesus’ message becomes a sort of contract. Generosity becomes an investment strategy. I share in order to receive the good measure poured into my lap.
With this mentality, my incentive for enduring the sacrifice of a mission trip is the bigger bonus I’ll receive in return. I help those in need so that I will be helped even more. It’s as though Jesus provided a way to game the system.
God’s economy can’t be charted as calculated input versus desired output. He’s not about maximizing Return On Investment.
He asks us to do something outside our comfort zone, something that doesn’t make sense from the world’s perspective. He asks us to give too much with no strings attached, help a stranger who can’t repay us, or forgive someone who’s harmed us when we don’t feel like forgiving. He asks us to do something outrageous and difficult like riding a bike 450 miles to stop human trafficking.
He doesn’t ask us to do those things for what we’ll receive in return. He simply says, “Follow me. Do what I did. Be like me.”
He does promise He won’t waste our effort, that He’ll use it for good (Romans 8:28). He promises that He’ll use that space beyond our “limits” to forge a deeper relationship with Him and help us discover our own souls.
Do you think, like I do at times, about what’s in it for me? Maybe we need to hang out with Jesus a little more, get to know Him a little better, learn what it means to sacrifice when there’s absolutely NOTHING in it for you.
At that point, God’s economy makes perfect sense.
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
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