Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family, Pie...
Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

Who would have guessed it? I know I wouldn’t have guessed.

Some new research (see infographic below) indicates that Americans give more to charity than any other nation – and that’s great! But we need to do more. We, the Christians in the United States, need to give more to charity. We need to help the poor be freed from poverty, to provide medical services for those in the US and in other countries, to provide even higher quality education.

We need to understand that poverty is bigger than money and stuff. It’s also brokenness, inability to provide, lack of protection. It’s broken relationships between God, ourselves, others, and all of creation. It’s broken systems that allow one person to take control of many.

We need to give more than our money. We also need to give our time, energy, and passion. We need to do it for ourselves, if not to help the destitute and oppressed – because we need to be invested in the work of the Kingdom of God.

And we need to do it ourselves – because we decide to do it. Because God is working in our lives. Because we need to see our own brokenness. Not because we’re forced or taxed to do it.

Finally, we need to be more careful to where we give our time and effort. We need to do all that we can to make sure that our resources (time, stuff, money, passion) are doing two things:

  1. Being used for the reason we’ve given them
  2. Doing good and not harm

God help us, we need to do more!

(By the way, I disagree with the final comment on the graphic regarding karma. I don’t believe in karma. I believe in planting and harvesting – sowing and reaping.)

CharityWhoCares-3
budget planner – Mint.com

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