The Cracked Acorn: Giving

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak we remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
Acts 20:35

It seems like yesterday, that I made a remark to my Dad about what I thought of abuses to the church money. He explained that helping persons who need the money and have no way to repay it is what Christ has taught us.

(Every Sunday morning, the Lord’s Supper is served and then it is announced that a collection is not a part of the Supper will be taken. I have never see anyone get up and leave, at that point in the service.)

An elder of the church went to visit a member well known for his stinginess. Being the bold sort, the elder thought facing the miser would be the only right thing to do.

He sat down with the fellow and told him straight out that covetousness was idolatry, and that the elders were worried about his soul. “I know you are not giving as you should.” said the elder, “and I want us to study about it for your soul’s sake.”

Coldly the miser answered, “If you know that I haven’t been giving as I should, you probably know about my brother, too, huh?”

“No,” answered the elder, “I don’t.” “Well, sir, my brother was wounded in Viet Nam and has been confined in a hospital for the past 15 years at exorbitant cost.” “Oh my,” answered the embarrassed elder,

“I didn’t know. I’m sorry!”

“And I guess you know that my mother is in a nursing home. She’s been there for the past five years and that takes lots of money to keep her there. And did you know that my daughter and her husband face ruin unless they can scrape up enough money to pay for flood damage to their little shop?”

Dropping his head, the red-faced elder apologized and said, “Brother you have shown me today that it is wrong to judge someone from afar. I hope you will forgive me for my harsh attitude. I understand completely.”

“I knew you would,” answered the man. “After all, if I’m not going to give to them, I’m surely not going to give to you.” ANON

So far, we know that people seem to be more motivated by how they can help others when they give, rather than what they can get back. But we are not yet sure if we would find this same pattern in larger-scale studies. Our participants did not reflect U.S. demographics in terms of gender, age and race or ethnicity. The number of women who took part outnumbered the men, for example, which might have made donors look more altruistic than they would have with gender parity. (from WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GIVING and DON’T KNOW!)