Giving to others our blessings from God

In his book, "Let Me Tell You a Story," popular speaker and author Tony Campolo tells of the time he visited Haiti with his 17-year-old son Bart. They were walking down one of the main streets of Port-au-Prince when they found themselves surrounded by impoverished children.

The children were begging for pennies, but Campolo said, "Bart, don't give them anything! If you do, they won't let up until they've got every dime we have."

Campolo said his son looked at him quizzically and answered, "So?"

When it comes to giving to the poor, many of us find ourselves caught in the tension between Tony's perspective and Bart's.

We want to do what we can to help, but we are afraid that if we give, we might be taken advantage of. We want to be generous and responsible at the same time. We want to know how much is the right amount to give.

The elder Campolo was convicted by his son's kind spirit, and Tony was reminded that all he had really was a gift from God. Bart was likely aware that his pennies might only help those children for a short while and certainly would not change the world, but his desire to meet the needs of others in the name of Christ convinced him that what he had was enough to make a difference.

All he gave was the small amount he had -- but he gave what he had! He knew that what he had really belonged to God, and so he turned it back over to see what God could do with it.

As we enter a season of the year in which we will be called upon to give -- especially to those who do not have the sustenance they need to live safely -- we might ask ourselves this: What of ours is really God's? And how should we share it?

The Bible gives us some guidelines for our giving. Many people of faith believe in giving a tithe of their income, or 10 percent, to their church, synagogue or another charitable cause. But does that mean only 10 percent of what we have belongs to God? How do we live faithfully with the rest?

We don't have clear-cut instructions about how much to give. Nor did Jesus tell us how many hours of our week to volunteer, or how many minutes each day to spend in prayer, or how many times per month we should attend worship.

Jesus refused to let our spiritual lives be reduced to a checklist. Jesus gave us the freedom to answer the question for ourselves.

Sometimes I wish I knew just how much giving is enough, but the Bible doesn't tell me that. Why not, I wonder? Perhaps because when we are motivated by the generosity and gratitude that comes from God, there is no measurable limit on what we can give.

The Rev. Julie Long is associate pastor and minister of children and families at First Baptist Church of Christ in Macon.