When Generosity Hurts: Original Sin and Sacrificial Giving

I’ve often heard it said that humanity is basically good. I know this is not the case. Not to say that there aren’t many kind and even heroic humans on earth, but I firmly believe in the premise of original sin. We are born sinful. You don’t have to teach a child how to be selfish, it comes naturally.

My children are all well aware of their rights and where they fall in the family hierarchy. It’s almost amusing to see my three year old learning what kind of power he has and finding his voice.

Sometimes giving, especially when we fear we won’t have enough, chaffs against our natural inclination for self-protection. We may even know that generosity is a good thing but we still fear the very act of sharing what we have, sacrificing our own needs and wants to provide for someone else’s.

As a parent this is familiar to me. In fact, it’s one of the areas I feel that I most often fail. I do often put my children first, when it’s appropriate. But I don’t always do it in love. I didn’t always look upon night wakings, whether for feedings or nightmares, with joy. I express my irritation when they interrupt my work on my rare quiet time. I’ve been known to hoard dessert.

If I have this kind of trouble with my own family, it can be even harder to extend that kind of generosity to strangers. Do I ask my children to go without shoes so I can purchase them for another child? Perhaps. Giving from our excess may seem easier, but it is in real self-denial that we will find growth.

Giving even when it hurts has as much potential to change and develop us as it does to help others. It can show us that we don’t need as much as we think we do. It provides opportunity for us to see God more clearly as provider.

It does the slow and sacred work of carving away the unnecessary bits and slowly revealing the image of God we are meant to bear. Yes, it hurts, but it is also so very necessary.

Next – Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs: Having Generous Hearts Towards Our Families