I was having a conversation recently with someone who was going through a rough patch, and in the course of the discussion, that person mentioned the name of another person who had helped them during their difficulty. The name that was mentioned stood out to me, because I had helped that person out a few different times over the years as they had gone through their own tough stretches. And while the name stood out, the act of generosity did not, both because I knew the character of the person who was mentioned, and because it fit a pattern that I have observed over and over again.
The people who seem to have little are often the first people to help those who seem to have nothing.
We live in an unprecedented time of abundance, and I certainly don’t want to disparage our standard of living. However, when you have ten shirts in your closet, it is easy to forget how valuable it is to have one shirt. To not have a shirt, and then have one, is a nearly immeasurable increase in quality of life, in comfort, in status, in safety. In so many different ways, to go from having none to having one is an incredible difference. Yet somehow, the increase from one shirt to two is substantially less significant of an impact, and the increase from two to three is even less so. By the time we get to ten shirts, it is easy to think that increasing our bounty by one has nearly no impact. The major difference, the difference that you don’t forget when you live in proximity to nothing, is the difference between zero and one.
When John the Baptist was preaching his message of repentance to the Israelites, the crowd asked him what they should do. In response, John declared that “anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same” (Luke 3:11). God is more concerned that people have what they need, and less concerned that they have what they might want beyond those needs. And speaking through John the Baptist, God wants us to know that when we have more than we need, we should be generous and share with others who still are without. It is a sign that we are just as concerned about the welfare of others as we are for ourselves.
When having zero is still fresh on your mind, and you find yourself with two, you have a much greater appreciation for the difference that you can make in someone’s life by sharing the extra that you have with them. Somehow, in the process of increasing from an extra to an abundance, we seem to forget how impactful it is to share with others. As we ourselves are distanced from a life with nothing, we distance ourselves from the joy that can be easily created by lifting up someone out of their deepest places. Yet for the one fresh out of the hole, they are willing to give deeply so that someone else might be lifted up. So if they have one spare shirt, they can give that away and still be better off than they had once been, while making a profound impact on another soul.
My friends, if you have ten shirts, it does you no harm to give one away to the person who has none, and if your pantry is full, you won’t starve if you provide food for someone who hungers. You’ve been blessed beyond measure, not simply so that you could enjoy the abundance, but to allow you to bless others. So stop storing up treasures on earth, and store up treasures in heaven by sharing generously. Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron