Since the beginning of my World Race journey, I have been charged with the task of raising $19,200 to cover the cost of living and travel for my 11 months in the field as well as additional money for my gear and personal needs.
I have also been asked by multiple people if I am embarrassed to ask others for money.
The answer has always been a very firm no, but until now I never really reflected on why I’m not and why others think I should be.
Here’s the thing, I recognize that God’s intention for giving is to bring joy.
2 Cor 9:7 tells us to give what our heart wants to give freely and not what we feel reluctant or obligated to give because God loves a cheerful giver.
Giving is meant to be a joy, not a chore.
The act of giving is a good gift created by God to bring joy to the world.
God created everything and owns everything, and, looking at current resource statistics, in God’s Kingdom there is more than enough to go around. But unfortunately I think we just don’t share enough as a whole species. Probably because we’re afraid to among other reasons.
Anyway, back to my journey of fundraising.
In inviting my family and friends and total strangers to partner with me, I’ve seen the joy other people experience in giving.
-In giving, they get to tell me that they love me.
-In giving, they get to be a part of something happening across the world that they can’t physically be part of.
-In giving, most important of all, they get to share joy and love with God and tell our Lord and Father how much they love Him and appreciate his abundant blessings and gifts.
I get to see that joy and I will never be embarrassed by it.
In my undergrad, I went to a Christian college and in my senior year I gave a sermon during chapel about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, which is in John 13. You see, when Jesus tried to wash Simon Peter’s feet there was resistance. Jesus was teacher and obviously the subordinate should wash the master’s feet, not the other way around.
But that’s not what Jesus intended. He wanted to serve. But He couldn’t serve unless His disciples let themselves be served. True humility is letting someone else experience the joy of serving and giving by letting yourself be served. Simon Peter lived into that when he listened to Jesus and offered to be served fully.
Giving is a partnership. It is not about one person being greater than another. No one can serve me if I won’t let them and I don’t get to serve anyone else unless they let me. When we label giving with things like status, independence, etc. we stop joy in its tracks. A cheerful receiver opens doors for cheerful giving.
Here’s the other reason I’m not embarrassed by asking others for money: I don’t buy into the lie that I can do this life all on my own.
Every day of life is a relational partnership. An easy example to understand is that if there’s no employer there’s no opportunity for me to be an employee. Money, as they say, doesn’t grow on trees, but my hard work alone will never be enough to earn a living if nobody else wants to partner with me to exchange my services for compensation. It’s a problem in our world that partnerships aren’t always equal. People are quick to take advantage of others when they can. I think it would probably work better if the partnerships were more equal all the time. I think that’s a message God has for us. Even someone living alone and relying on the land for food is in a partnership with the earth. Every partnership looks different, but nobody can make it on their own.
So, yes, I might be able to get a job and save the money for my trip on my own, but that’s still a partnership. I’m still working with someone else to meet my needs.
The most important partnership of all is our partnership with God. I mean, how can we not partner with the one who created, owns, planned, and knows everything? I wouldn’t be here without God and His love for me.
However I do this fundraising thing, I’ve known from the beginning that my goal cannot be to just pay for this trip. My goal has to be to do this in a way that is obedient to God’s partnership with me. God knows his Kingdom economics. He knows where He wants his money and resources. If I don’t partner with others and allow all of us to be obedient to giving in God’s Kingdom, then I’m shutting down joy and the other fruits God wants to bear through my journey.
I’m not embarrassed by obedience to God. I’m not embarrassed by trying to emulate the example of Jesus in partnership with the people and resources of the world.
I have been so blessed by the joy I have seen through giving. There is nothing embarrassing about that.
So, my challenge to you is to open yourself to experiencing the true joy of giving, both by giving and by receiving. Remember that God created giving to bring us closer together in partnership and to bring true joy and the fruits of the spirit into the world. You will never be able to make it in this world alone. No matter how hard you try, your hard work means nothing if nobody wants to reward it. We rely on each other a lot more than we’re willing to admit, but maybe it’s a start when we admit it to ourselves. Then we can shape our lives around this truth, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll experience the blessings of giving and partnership that God has for us. Speaking from experience, I know it’s not easy. Every day of trying to live into this truth is a challenge, but we gotta start somewhere. And God will be there to show us what giving is all about.
