O Lord of heav’n and earth and sea,
To thee all praise and glory be!
How shall we show our love to thee,
Who givest all?
. . .
To thee from whom we all derive,
Our life, our gifts, our pow’r to give;
O may we ever with thee live,
Who givest all!
– Christopher Wordsworth, 1863
That song was a bit too poetically high-sounding for most leaders to choose it, but it was sung in my congregation a few times when I was young, and it still inspires. How can we give to God? As recipients of all good from God, we are forever in the spiritual position of the requiter. But how can we really requite?
Indeed, how could anyone undertake to give anything to God? He is the ultimate Source, the ultimate Giver. Of course, we cannot in actuality give Him anything He needs, but we will still want to do for Him, to give to Him.
We give thee but thine own,
Whate’er the gift may be;
All that we have is thine alone,
A trust, O Lord, from thee.
– William How, 1858
We humans could and should be giving of ourselves to God and to others.
But we are takers.
And, man, there are lots of dyed-in-the-wool takers around me. Mostly I think of a few parents, some of whom I’ve never met. They seem just to take, take, take all the time . . . to reap the benefits of others who give, give, give to the idle takers’ children. Ideally, sharing can occur. Sharing of rides, reciprocation of gifts, meals out, and more. But some parents never seem to realize what’s happening with their own children: how much is given to their children, how much they are missing out on! And how much the children too, are in a position of taking! In this scenario we are talking about humans taking from other humans, and the humans are actually in a position to be able to give in return, to give something needed.
I try to be a giver, and I enjoy being able to be generous here and here, but sometimes it just feels that I’m being taken advantage of. When a friend of my son needs something bought before her game, or needs a ride, I’m happy to provide if I can, but then I find out a parent is just sitting at home doing nothing, and I start to feel that parent is a taker. And I hope the daughter learns to be a giver instead. I want to be helpful, and I want to be an adult that can be depended on, but I don’t want to enable a behavior pattern that will create irresponsibility in the next generation.
A third song of which I’m reminded is from yet a third middle-19C poet. (This concentration in another era leads me to wonder whether anyone thinks much about giving anymore.) In my experience, this song was often used as a contribution-motivation song, and I rather wish this song were used more overtly as a catalyst for deeper thought about a deeper kind of giving.
I gave My life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou mightst ransomed be,
And quickened from the dead;
I gave, I gave My life for thee,
What hast thou done for Me?
I gave, I gave My life for thee,
What hast thou done for Me?
-Frances Havergal, ca. 1860
Truly, what have we done? What have we given? The prophet said all our righteous deeds, even, amount to nothing but “filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6) The ultimate giver is God. Both before Jesus lived and became Christ, and through Him now, we find the Example of giving. We take from Him; we receive from Him. And all we have to give is nothing . . . and everything.
Whatever, Lord, we lend to thee,
Repaid a thousand fold shall be;
Then gladly will we give to thee,
Who givest all!
– Christopher Wordsworth, 1863
Reflections of a similar kind:
Earnestly Speaking 