One of the simple pleasures in life for my wife Lynne and me is to attend a movie at a local movie theater. What makes it most pleasurable is not the movie – though obviously we want the movie to be good. The pleasure comes from throwing health caution to the wind for just a few hours by purchasing a large tub of buttered popcorn that comes with free unlimited refills.
Typically, when filling the popcorn bucket the theater, the employee will simply scoop and pour until the bucket is full. Nothing wrong with that. That is until we met the gold standard of movie popcorn concession workers.
After putting in the first scoop she took the bucket and bumped it up and down on the counter to make the popcorn settle. Then she added butter. Then she added another scoop, bumped it up and down, and then added butter. Not only did she fill it to the rim, she also mounded it up an inch or so above the rim. Her generosity set her apart not only from her peers in the movie theater industry, but also from many others from all walks of life.
Some reading this article might be tempted to conclude, “Yeah, it’s easy for her to be generous. She’s giving away the owner’s popcorn…not hers.” If that’s the case, then why doesn’t every movie theater concession worker fill a popcorn bucket like she does? Let me tell you what I truly believe about that young lady. I believe that she is not just generous when she is filling popcorn buckets. I believe she has chosen as her overall inclination and disposition in life a readiness to give above and beyond what is expected.
Pondering what that young lady did that day caused me to recall some wisdom Jesus shared as recorded in the Bible in Luke 6:38 (ESV). Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” Later the Apostle Paul would reinforce that spiritual truth in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 when he challenged the Christ followers in Corinth to be generous givers. He said to them, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
I want to ask a couple of questions that I hope will cause each of us to stop and consider our ways as it relates to our giving. Can we make the claim that we are “good measure…pressed down…shaken together…running over” people when it comes to sharing our personal resources (i.e. money, time, talents, intellect, experience, wisdom)? Can we make the claim that we sow our money, time, talents, intellect, experience, and wisdom bountifully and cheerfully? If we conclude we don’t possess such a spirit of giving but we want to, then we need to be aware that there are several allurements which we will have to continually resist:
-
- The lure of selfishness and greed: One of the earliest signs that each of us has a sin nature from birth is the presence of selfishness in every young child’s life. No one needs to teach a child to be selfish. It comes prewired. Selfishness is when a person wants to keep for himself all that he already has. Selfishness is manifested in an unwillingness to share. The reason it is so important to get a handle on selfishness is that, given the right circumstances, it can morph into greed. Greed is selfishness on steroids. Greed is when a person not only wants to keep and not share what he already has, but also wants to add more and more to his pile just to have more on his pile. It doesn’t matter if his motivation is pride, power, position, prestige, or whatever. Even more, the fact that having more on his pile might keep others from having enough on theirs is of no consequence to him. Selfishness is a defensive weapon a person uses to keep others from getting what he has. Greed is an offensive weapon a person uses to plunder what other people have.
- The lure of discontent: Contentment is the ability and willingness to be happy, settled, and at peace with how things are at a given moment. Discontent then, is the inability and unwillingness to be happy, settled, and at peace with how things are at a given moment. Discontent can be a significant inhibitor of generosity, if the discontent is a restlessness rooted in the material things of life such that no matter what or how much one possesses it is never enough. The pursuit of more, bigger, brighter, and better can steal time and resources that could have been used to be generous to others in their time of need.
- The lure of fear: In some respects, living a generous lifestyle involves risks. There is the risk that should we give generously, then there might not be enough left to provide our needs. Then there is the risk that if we give generously, there might not be enough left to finance our dreams and wishes. If we fear the possibility of either of these happening more than we anticipate the joys and blessings that God provides for a generous giver, those fears can short circuit our desire to give over and above what is expected.
In closing, the Bible reveals something else Jesus said about giving – “It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35 ESV).” Do you want to be truly happy, which is what “blessed” means? Then be a generous giver, not a stingy grasper.
Recent Comments