"Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again."
Luke 6:30
This whole chapter is pretty amazing, and there is a lot of stuff in here about how we should treat others, but I thought just this one verse was well worth some focus. Imagine if we all truly did this, and cared about others this much. ... If you asked me for something, I would give it, and if I asked you for something, you would give it. And we start thinking of exceptions right off, right? Well, sure, but not if you asked for [insert name of favorite thing here], and not if you are a burglar. ... Except then the verse says "of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again..." which kind of sounds like it *does* apply to burglars. And "every man that asketh of thee" sounds pretty all-inclusive as well. Includes *everyone,* not just people we like, or people that won't waste it. ... Everyone.
Instead of worrying about the exceptions here, if there are any, I'm wondering if the point is that we should be less wrapped up in our stuff. :) Maybe we should be ready to let it go if someone else needs it more. Or just always ready to let it go... because it doesn't matter. To place a higher value on things that last, and to just share the temporary things rather than hoarding them... since we can't take them along anyway.
I think we get really wrapped up in ownership sometimes. Like this is MINE, and if anyone takes it away or tries to steal it or cheat me out of it, then I'm going to go ballistic. :) From a gospel perspective, everything we have was given to us by God... and it doesn't even really belong to us. We're just taking care of things for Him... trying to multiply our talents in anticipation of the return of our Lord, as in the parable. And I get it... I do. It is hard to let go of things that are important to us. It's hard to make ends meet sometimes. It is hard to have faith that God will solve our problems when we are unable to. Today though, even though it is hard, let's try. Let's act on this idea, and share more, and give more, and trust more. And the more we try, and the less invested we are in things rather than the people that are asking for or taking them, maybe the more we learn how to be good and how to love even the people who steal our favorite Legos. :)
Luke 6:30
This whole chapter is pretty amazing, and there is a lot of stuff in here about how we should treat others, but I thought just this one verse was well worth some focus. Imagine if we all truly did this, and cared about others this much. ... If you asked me for something, I would give it, and if I asked you for something, you would give it. And we start thinking of exceptions right off, right? Well, sure, but not if you asked for [insert name of favorite thing here], and not if you are a burglar. ... Except then the verse says "of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again..." which kind of sounds like it *does* apply to burglars. And "every man that asketh of thee" sounds pretty all-inclusive as well. Includes *everyone,* not just people we like, or people that won't waste it. ... Everyone.
Instead of worrying about the exceptions here, if there are any, I'm wondering if the point is that we should be less wrapped up in our stuff. :) Maybe we should be ready to let it go if someone else needs it more. Or just always ready to let it go... because it doesn't matter. To place a higher value on things that last, and to just share the temporary things rather than hoarding them... since we can't take them along anyway.
I think we get really wrapped up in ownership sometimes. Like this is MINE, and if anyone takes it away or tries to steal it or cheat me out of it, then I'm going to go ballistic. :) From a gospel perspective, everything we have was given to us by God... and it doesn't even really belong to us. We're just taking care of things for Him... trying to multiply our talents in anticipation of the return of our Lord, as in the parable. And I get it... I do. It is hard to let go of things that are important to us. It's hard to make ends meet sometimes. It is hard to have faith that God will solve our problems when we are unable to. Today though, even though it is hard, let's try. Let's act on this idea, and share more, and give more, and trust more. And the more we try, and the less invested we are in things rather than the people that are asking for or taking them, maybe the more we learn how to be good and how to love even the people who steal our favorite Legos. :)
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