Caden got his wish this afternoon.
But I’ll back up.
During Possessions Week of The 7 Experiment, God had such wonderful timing for our family. Remember, our group aimed at giving away 7 items a day. So we were already in “give away” mode.
Plus, here are some of the things I was reading based on Matthew 6:
“It’s not that rich Christians don’t care about the poor; it’s that they don’t know the poor.
Jesus was simply relentless in His call toward lean living and reckless generosity. He never let up, refused to soften the blow of it all.
He uncovered a fundamental correlation between our spiritual health and how we think about and handle money.
‘Show me how you spend your money, and I’ll show you what you really love.’
In context, we have these happiness options: a beautiful home, gorgeous furnishings, lots of accessories and gadgets, sweet cars, the latest fashions, big savings accounts, stuff, things, luxuries.
Conversely, we have these happiness options: generosity, living below our means, giving, intentional restraint, battling poverty, simplicity, sharing, communal responsibility, humility.
Most of our translations in Matthew 6:22-23 say, ‘If your eye is good…’ The closer meaning to the Greek word used, haplous, is clear, single, simple.
If your eyes are generous…
If your eyes are bad…’Bad’ is from the word poneros, usually meaning evil, but it is also used in translating the Hebrew expression ‘evil eye,’ a Jewish colloquialism meaning grudging or stingy. We find it in certain translations, like in Deut. 15:9, where God instructs His people to loan generously to the destitute, lest ‘your eye is hostile toward your poor brother’ and also in Proverbs 28:22 which says, ‘A man with an evil eye hastens after wealth.’
We find a helpful parallel in the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16…The landowner asked in verse 15: ‘Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my business? Are you jealous because I’m generous?’ which is a fine paraphrase, but a translation closer to the original Greek reads: ‘Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ (NKJV)
So here we have this ‘bad eye’ thing again, and it is related to a hostile reaction to generosity.
Jesus seemed to say that if our heart, represented by our eye, is generous, then our entire spiritual life will be flooded with brightness…
The more openhanded I became with my stuff [in my experiences with 7], the less power they had over me. A brightness truly began flooding some dark recesses of my heart, ugly places where I wanted to protect my things, shelter my safety net, and harbor my justifications. It was like magic.
Jesus was right. Our hearts are deeply connected to our treasure, and the more I gave away, the less I considered them treasures at all. I couldn’t talk myself into feeling differently. I couldn’t talk myself out of wanting more. I just had to give them away, and therein was the miracle.
Darkness is never more dangerous than when we’re plunged in it and think we can see. The financial decisions we make are wrought with peril. Our justifications are full of holes we can’t make out. How we raise our children, run our churches, consider our communities, interpret who our neighbor is – when done in false illumination, we can sink an entire society, mislead a generation, abandon billions in their suffering, misinterpret the scope of the gospel.
The bad eye is so scary.
In Matthew 6:24, Jesus set ‘money’ up as a competing master to His own reign in our lives. What does Jesus seem to know about the human heart?
[Only capable of one Lord]
No man can be at the same time, in reality, a loyal servant to two masters hostile to each other, whose interests stand in diametric opposition.
If he thinks he is pulling it off, he is self-deceived, says Jesus, because it is impossible.
We can, we say, we’re doing it now.
You can’t, says Jesus, your light is actually darkness.”
Whew. Shivers. Again.
Anyway, I mentioned our group tried to find people in our personal lives or organizations who could benefit from all our accumulated stuff (people, there was a lot of stuff!). We wanted a human element in all this. To find out needs in our community and be blessed to help meet them.
But the most wonderful of all for us was on the Friday of Possessions week. We live in a nice area of town and often take the interstate to go to various locations. This evening we were coming back from somewhere and there was a man 4 lanes away on the off-ramp. He had a cardboard sign saying ‘Anything Helps.’
It was so interesting to observe all this. This is very uncommon in our little area (at least that I’m aware of). I glanced at different people in cars, all avoiding eye contact. I was thinking about my own heart’s response to the man as well, when my oldest piped up.
“What is that man over there doing?”
“He doesn’t have enough money for what he needs.”
Long pause.
“Then why isn’t anyone helping him?”
Such an honest question. And there are lots of logical reasons: he could get help from organizations, we don’t know if he’ll spend it on bad things, blah, blah, blah.
But the truth is…what?
What’s the truth?
What do you think Jesus or Paul or Peter or Priscilla or Lydia or Ruth would’ve done?
The bottom line in my heart is I want to err on the side of generosity. That was what God had been speaking to my heart all week, anyway.
We would’ve had to hold up traffic and run across a few lanes to help the man right then. As Dan pulled away, my boy goes,
“Can we go back? I want to give him my allowance.”
I looked at Dan. This was a crucial point. What we did in this moment would matter in our young son’s little heart and understanding of the gospel.
I was so, so proud of my man. He smiled, turned around, went waaaaay out of our way on the interstate, turned around again, and got back on the off-ramp. At first we didn’t see him, then realized he had crossed the lanes and now was on the far side walking away.
Closest to my window.
I rolled it down to get his attention before walking off.
I go, “My son really wanted to give you his allowance.”
“Oh, no way. God bless you, little man.”
Caden beamed with pride.
“What can we pray for you?”
He told us his name, a blip of his story and what he needed prayer for.
We all drove away giddy. I’m not kidding! Giddy. At how lighthearted we felt. At how pleased we sensed God was at our son’s generous heart. At helping someone else instead of being self-absorbed.
And since then, Caden mentions at least every third time we’re on that same off-ramp how he wishes there was a man there he could help again.
So today.
We were on an off-ramp from Kellogg – a section a little more known for seeing people holding signs. This man’s sign said he was homeless.
I pulled over, gave him what God prompted me to give, and asked, “If we only prayed for one thing for you today, what would it be?”
He goes, “You know, we’re homeless and our stuff just keeps getting stolen. Some of it we lost in the storm, too, a couple of weeks ago. But other stuff people take. It’s just really hard to make headway like this.”
I wish I could describe the look in his eyes when he said all this. There is something about watching a man – you know, one whose deep need is to provide for his family – have to beg. At this point, I never care why. Addiction, bad choices, sin. I don’t care. My heart is so heavy that his male ego is being raked over hot coals in front of everyone.
No one would choose that.
We prayed for him. Caden asked lots of good questions. I was grateful his heart is still tender to those who suffer.
I wish I could list all the things that make this post feel hypocritical right this moment in my heart, but I’ll just share a few:
We were driving back from buying Caden a new toy – one he didn’t need – with his allowance when we met this man.
We are planning to buy a truck soon.
I have gone over grocery budget so many times lately.
See what I mean? Not. perfect.
But I want good eyes. I want my eye to be single. I want my whole body to be full of light.
Don’t you?