The Giver Gets the Greatest Blessing

Tigist invited me into her home in Ethiopia because I was—and still am—her American sister/sponsor. When my heart was stirred toward orphan prevention, my girlfriends joined me, we pooled our money, and I earned the opportunity to be Tigist’s honored guest.

The inequities of our lives churned inside me during our visit. Our two birthplaces make our realities wildly different. Her entire home is the size of my master bathroom. I have access to medical specialists, while her community has one doctor per 33,333 people. My hard work has the power to significantly change my situation. Her hard work, day in and day out, barely keeps malnutrition at bay.

Trying to make sense of these disparities has been an open, working file in my mind since the day I met Tigist. I need to understand how God is working and what he expects from me. The privilege of my birthplace is a sacred offering I have to give to the world.

Wrestling with these questions has caused unexpected certitudes to appear. The most brilliant is that what I’ve gained by giving far outweighs what I’ve given.

The Giver Gets the Biggest Blessing

God seems to link our relationship to the poor with spiritual maturity, proof of both authentic faith and the vehicle God uses to build it. When Job lost everything, his involvement with marginalized people was his greatest defense:

“I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth” (Job 29:14–17 ESV).

The early church leaders required one proof of Paul’s recent conversion:

“They asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do” (Galatians 2:10 ESV).

The Magic Formula for Growth

In his book Justice Calling, Palmer Chinchen says some pieces of spiritual growth are accessible only through justice work. This concept forces us to think and wrestle in unfamiliar and uncomfortable ways. We enter a land lacking black and white answers. We begin relationships with real people who won’t let us go. This requires us to dig deeper and lean harder into God’s heart.

I’ve felt that happening in my life. Tigist is so much more than a justice issue to me. Because of her, I know about drug-resistant TB protocols, I’ve made middle-of-the-night phone calls to Ethiopian hospitals, and I know how much start-up capital is required for an African sheep farm. These things are a part of me now because Tigist is someone I love.

My love has caused my heart to grow in ways I couldn’t predict. It feels magical. Heart stretching is how the giver gets the biggest blessing.

Growth Steps

This path of growth is often hidden from us in our middle-American lives. We have to clear some brush and seek it out. Satan wants us to stay insulated and blind to the needs of the world, and it takes dedicated effort to break through.

• See—We must train our hearts to see people we haven’t noticed before. Books and documentaries are the most accessible first step. (You’ll find a list of recommended books below.)
• Wrestle—When you start to see, you’ll feel equal parts guilty and paralyzed. Guilty for living unaware so long and paralyzed because the problems are big. These are more of Satan’s tricks to keep you insulated. Keep wrestling! Your heart and mind will stretch.
• Do—Soul muscles gain power when exercised. As you see and wrestle, opportunities for action will appear. Even if they are small and incomplete, do the things that grab your attention. Through the doing, you will gain more power for the next thing.
• Grow—As you see, wrestle, and do, you will grow. Before long you’ll look in the mirror and see the velveteen rabbit, like the one in the book by Margery Williams. You’ll be threadbare in spots and maybe missing an eye, but you’ll be real in ways you’ve never been before.

Visiting Tigist’s home was the opening act of a journey that has been full of surprises. The biggest was how God spun my giving a full 360 degrees to drop the biggest blessing right back into my lap—a new depth of spiritual growth. I’m confident he has a similar journey for each of us.

Recommended reading:

• Justice Calling by Palmer Chinchen
• Junkyard Wisdom by Roy Goble
• Red Letters by Tom Davis
• Little Princes by Conor Grennan
• Generous Justice by Tim Keller

Lori Florida lives a life that is all about her people. She’s convinced that being Mrs. to one and Mommy to eight will be her most significant way to serve Jesus. She wants to use her life to cheer on and coach the women around her. She is on staff with Project Hopeful working to give a hand up to moms in poverty in Ethiopia. You can find her at loriflorida.com.

Photograph © Clay Knight, used with permission