from the Cafe

A really great post from the Cafe site (a resource of WELCA and Thrivent).

Can you afford to be generous? By Susan Greeley

Small children know what to do when they touch a hot stove—they jump back and jerk their hands away. The response is automatic and sensible. That’s the image that comes to mind when I think about being generous in times like these.

Whether the economic downturn has touched us directly or not, we all seem to feel the need to pull back, be cautious, and prepare for the worst. In short, we think we need to protect what we have. Times like these don’t inspire us to generosity.

But living a generous life is not an option for Christians; it is a requirement. This was the commandment Christ gave to us on Maundy Thursday: that we love one another. And loving one another leads to generosity.

For those people of faith who have already adopted a lifestyle of generosity, giving is an expression of love and gratitude; it is a natural response. But for many of us, a deep-seated love of giving is not automatic. It is more logical to believe that we will have more if we keep to ourselves whatever money or things we have gained. We think that we can give later—when we have “enough,” or maybe when we’re older, or better yet, in our wills.

Continued …