What do you do with your best?
If I’m honest, I spend more time thinking about how to keep my best things rather than on how I can give them away. Most of the time I can a lid on my selfishness (or, at least, I think I can hide it pretty well!), but whether it’s the best of my attention at home or my patience in the supermarket, lockdown has had its ways of exposing my inner stinginess.
Paul says his best isn’t an object or possession, but his dear friend, Timothy, of whom he says:
I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
(verse 20)
A little later he gives a similarly glowing endorsement to Epaphroditus, calling him ‘my brother, co-worker and fellow soldier’ (verse 25).
Paul tells the Philippians to give Epaphroditus a warm welcome:
Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honour people like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give.
(verses 29-30)
These co-workers of Paul were his very best.
As we embrace the new realities of social distancing and self-isolation, and as we miss closeness with friends and family, it’s becoming easier to imagine what these two friends would have meant to Paul, left alone in his cold dark prison cell.
And yet do you see what Paul does with them? He sends them (verses 19, 23, 25 and 28). He gives them away.
Paul wasn’t a superhero and he wasn’t a loner. We can see these men were very dear to Paul. But he chose to give them away.
Why?
Because Paul knew that Jesus had given his best away for him and for us at the cross. And he knew that what he’d received from Jesus was immeasurably precious. It freed him to be generous, because he knew that what was most valuable of all was not something that even lock-down could rob.
Giving away your best with joy is a principle of the gospel. It sounds crazy. It is costly. But as we do so, we walk the path of our saviour, and we reap greater joy than we would by keeping it. So today, look to Jesus – and give away your best.
Consider or discuss
- What have you learned about your own capacity for stinginess and for generosity in recent days? Where do you need to rest again the forgiveness that’s yours in Jesus?
- What are some of the reasons we can tell ourselves to legitimate not giving generously? How convincing do these sound in the light of Jesus’ giving himself up even to death on a cross?
- What could giving your best look like for you today?
Respond
Your Grace is Enough reflects on the generosity of Jesus in his sacrifice – and how this has secured a dependable flow of grace upon which we can rely. Use this song to lift your heart again to him in worship.
You might like to prayer this prayer, attributed to St Ignatius of Loyola:
Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for reward
save that of knowing that I do your will.
Amen.
Taking it further
- Paul holds up Timothy and Epaphroditus as those who put the gospel to work in their lives, and served others in love. Followers of Jesus down the ages have found biographies of Christians who’ve done the same have spurred them to faith and God. Could you use the time you have to hear these stories? Here are some places to start:
Unexceptional – a book telling the stories of ordinary women doing extraordinary things through God
Deep Refreshment from the Past – Michael Reeves unpacks the story of Martin Luther
He Kissed the Rose and Felt the Thorn – let John Piper introduce you to the life and death of Robert Murray M’Cheyne (video)
- This pause in normal life might give you time to think about generosity with your finances. If you’ve fallen into bad habits, check out this article by Christians Against Poverty. It might leave with more to give away.
This post was written by Ed Preston, UCCF Team Leader in Yorkshire and the North East.
Though contributions to this blog are all written by UCCF Staff and Relays, the opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent the broader opinions of UCCF.
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