Be Generous – No Strings Attached
How well do you give gifts? Are you radically generous? Do you give to others only for their benefit, only out of love, without a sense of how they can repay you? Or are your eyes always fixed on how people can help you get ahead?
Ordinarily, people can tell when you care and when you have their interests at heart. You might pull the wool over their eyes for a while. However if they truly see that your generosity is forced, they will recoil as we all do. We expect people to have their strings attached. Open generosity is so rare.
And yet, Jesus has no strings. He loves you today, and he will love you tomorrow- no strings attached. It is his desire that you live more like Him, and beyond that he longs to be with you.
I think Thomas Merton puts it well when he writes that Jesus “finds so few hearts in which He can enjoy a little silence. Those who say they love Him are always pushing and nagging, with their complaints, demanding His attention like spoiled children. How He desires to find a soul that has grown up enough to just be with Him.” However, Jesus will be generous with you even at your worst. If you need to be demanding with Jesus, he will listen. And if you need Him to be present, recognize the Truth that He’s already with you.
This weekend be generous to someone—be it a family member, a stranger . . .
No strings attached please.
