Being Real in 2024, Day 30

 Because next week I am teaching Acts 3, I will take a detour from Matthew. 

The lesson in the literature is about meeting needs. I am conflicted about this theme; yes, we are responsible to meet needs, but we should be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Everyone who says they have a need doesn't really have one. We need to be prudent and generous, not just generous. If we are prudent in our giving, we can give even more. 

Bottom line: I work hard for the money and don't want it going to people who will waste it and are perfectly capable of making a living. Yes, I know that sounds unkind. I think it's wise.

The other side of this is our motivation. Too often it's more about branding "we are a church that helps the community" or "this gift aligns with my self-identity as a good person" v. the glory of God and the quiet ministry to those who really need the help. We are generous in our own name instead of because Jesus changed the world and us in the process. 

This sounds like the words of someone who is not a giver. I am. I've just been used by too many people and prefer to use my brain and the guidance of God, rather than white, middle-class guilt tell me how to give. 

That's me being real in 2024.  The narrative in Acts is that, after the church met internal needs of the church, it went out into the world. Instead of giving a beggar money, Peter and John made him able to live a normal life and eventually work--and there were plenty of witnesses. And Peter is very blunt about this. I have to ask, whose faith healed the beggar? It would have to be Peter's, not the beggar's. Peter is no Benny Hinn or Ernest Angely. The man is healed and Peter knows why, end of story. We have no reason to be impressed with ourselves. If Peter had been "full of himself" in the past, those days are over. He will still make mistakes, but he understands the structure of the universe now. And really, his sermon shows that. "The times of refreshing are at hand." Not "live your best life now."