Donna’s story reads like a Christmas miracle. Passed out from a drug overdose at the bottom of a stairwell, Donna was discovered by a friend who cleaned her up, brought her to church, and challenged her to “come and see” who Jesus really is. The invitation to draw near to Jesus forever changed Donna’s trajectory.
“That’s when my old life ended and my real journey began,” she later shared. Her friend’s willingness to offer the gift of Christ has potentially impacted generations of one family.
As we look to a new year, often fraught with resolutions drowning in disregard, perhaps this January could look a little different. Rather than making a commitment to do something for ourselves, why don’t we instead have the heart of Donna’s friend, asking, “What can I do for others in 2024? What can I show up and give to my friends, my family, my neighbors in this new year?”
God has given each of us something to generously offer our family and community in 2024, whether it’s time, talent, treasure, or even a tender-hearted invitation to gather around our kitchen table.
Like the boy who brought five loaves and two fish to feed a hungry crowd in the biblical story of the feeding of the 5,000, God multiplies our gifts. Because when we bring our loaves and fish, whatever God has called us to give to this world, God honors it, allowing our basket of bread to suddenly be filled with enough food to feed the multitudes.
Jesus performs the multiplication miracle, but it’s up to us to bring our baskets — our generous hearts — primed to give and powered with purpose.
But what does it mean to have a generous heart and offer up our basket? In Mark 12:41 we read about the poor widow who gave Jesus all she had, her last two coins. As Jesus watched the rich throw in large amounts, while simultaneously noticing the widow who handed over all she had, he remarked that she gave “out of her poverty, all she had to live on,” noting that she has “put more into the treasury than all the others.”
I’ll bet that wasn’t the widow’s first expression of generosity. My guess is that she lived a life of lavish love, giving all she had to her friends, her family, and most of all, her Lord.
This is why I believe the heart of a generous giver is fueled by love. In my work with Come and See, I hear stories every day about people whose lives are changed as they are invited to come and see the love of Jesus as is so beautifully depicted through The Chosen TV series.
Jackie is a single mother of three who has a medically fragile daughter with a severe intellectual disability. When she saw the authentic Jesus depicted through the acclaimed television series “The Chosen,” it brought the Bible to life for her family, allowing her to feel more loved by Jesus, more globally connected to the body of Christ, and, most of all, less alone.
Jackie’s story reminds me that the heart of a generous giver understands that everyone’s basket is significant. Each person’s specific gift and what they bring to the table, whether of time, talent or treasure, feeds the “masses,” bearing witness to a generous God of goodness who cares for this broken world. We can’t do it alone, but if we understand that we all have a mission to fulfill, a part to play, and if we present our basket full of our resources or talents to Jesus, he blesses our offering and performs the miraculous multiplication.
Julie is a missionary to Taiwan. After “The Chosen” was dubbed into the Chinese language, Julie was able to share it with a group of Taiwanese and Chinese students who had never before heard about Jesus. Julie’s basket offering of sharing Jesus with a friend matters — and so does yours.
We all have something to give our community in the coming year. Let’s reshape our New Year’s resolutions to include others – getting out of our comfort zones, inviting people into our homes, sharing a meal with a neighbor, and making generosity the strategic purpose of our lives. And as exuberant givers, overflowing with love and compassion, may we offer our fish and loaves to a world that is waiting for us to open our hands and our hearts.
What are you offering the world in 2024? What’s in your basket? May we all trust God to multiply whatever gift we are called to bring.
Kira McCracken is the Vice President of Development at the Come and See Foundation.
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