Scarcity Clarifies the Trajectory of our Heart

Image by Chitto Cancio

by Stephen Kump with Charityvest

Both the most generous and the most covetous people I’ve ever met have been people on the low end of the economic ladder. The generosity I received a few years ago in Uganda among the poorest of the global poor, at times, brought me to tears. In contrast, just this past weekend a man in evident need attempted to scam me when I responded to his plea for grocery help. Perhaps you can relate to these extremes.

Conversely, the wealthy often have a greater capacity to operate with some independence on others, and as a result, they can proceed through much of life with indifference toward being generous or being covetous. Most of the extremely generous wealthy people I know have gone through life seasons of loss or deeply constrained living, or they have walked in close proximity to many people who have.

There’s a heart-clarifying edge that comes with the challenges of resources being more scarce.

When times get lean, people of all economic stations either grow in their capacity to find security outside of themselves (i.e., their resources and efforts), or they become increasingly captured by fear and dread. Something about scarcity clarifies the trajectory of our hearts.

We’re seeing people have heart-clarifying moments here in the era of COVID-19.

Heart clarification was Jesus’ exercise for the man we know as the “rich young ruler” in Matthew 19. He was to give up his wealth and place his trust and security fully in Jesus. Instead of giving away his wealth, we’re told he walked away from Jesus distraught. Jesus' invitation was clarifying at the heart level. The ruler was not ready to trust Jesus more than the security he found in his own stuff. We’re also likewise warned by Jesus right after the story that it is hard for rich men to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In Jesus’ mind there is a direct link between our heart-health and our relationship with our money. 

The second part of Jesus’ invitation to the rich young ruler was to give. He did not advocate for the man to burn his money. Burning his money would have been impersonal. Instead, Jesus invites him into an activity of connection—generosity. To give, he would have had to look for problems and opportunities outside of himself. He would have had to come in close contact with the poor or those who served them directly. His life would have become less about activities of comfort and more about activities of compassion and connection.

In our lives, as was true for the rich young ruler, the most clarifying heart moments around our resources tend to come in the moments when we consider or experience significant changes in our wealth. This can also happen inside of us when we observe a wealth change in someone proximal to us, too. Consider the disciples, who observed the exchange with the young ruler. Jesus’ conversation with him was just as much for the disciples as it was the young ruler himself. There was a clarifying heart moment for all of them.

With all of the present uncertainty in regards to resources around us—perhaps reductions already felt or observed—I suspect there’s an invitation to a clarifying heart moment for you and those who are watching you.

Even with all the calamity caused by this virus and its economic effect, the far more subtle, yet more widespread and material threat to you and your employees is a response of fear and self-centeredness to all that’s going on. How many of us, myself included, have had calculating thoughts like, “If only I can get back to …” or “If I can just save this much then…?” But such thoughts lead us back to the place where the agenda of worldly prosperity has its greatest spiritual detriment. Uncle Screwtape in CS Lewis’ Screwtape Letters makes plain the spiritual reality we want to prevent, “Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he can find his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.”

Perhaps, in a moment such as this, the greatest thing we can do as leaders is to reassess our own relationship to our resources and resist the temptation to neglect generosity even when it might not fit with our financial goals. The temptation is to believe shrewdness with money will lead us to become a more whole person on the other side of this economic downturn. Shrewdness only matters if we are employing shrewdness to enable a good heart’s agenda.

I’ve learned that it is in these very moments when the discipline of giving—intentionally setting aside resources and looking for opportunities to bless someone else -- is most critical to spiritual progress. With each day of financial uncertainty, Jesus extends an invitation to trust him more than our money.

And I’d argue that having means to act in response to Jesus’ call is incredibly helpful here. Such means can influence our spiritual habits and the trajectory of our hearts. 

This is one of my personal motivations behind my venture, Charityvest. We are creating means for intentional giving to be accessible to everyone, Christian and not, and for leaders to inspire others to give. We are one tool, and there are certainly others good for various donor or gift circumstances, but everyone needs something.

A commitment to generosity in a time like this is not without its obstacles. I’ve heard it said already, for any business leaders affiliated with an organization that is facing layoffs, giving to charity now is “out of touch”—implying leaders should use any personal or corporate capital to save employees, not encourage giving.

I can certainly see ways that promoting charitable giving in this time could be poorly handled, but leaders face a moment now where people are—to a greater degree—looking to them for leadership on a deeper level. I recently heard GEN (ret) Stanley McChrystal mention in regard to leadership in the COVID-19 era, “The leader's got a role to, first, give people a sense of direction.”

Laying a foundation of generosity in your own life—whether of large dollars or small dollars or any other resource—is an opportunity for you as a leader in your family, your company, and your friends to “set direction” as to what’s most important in life. You can also influence the spiritual climate in your environments by encouraging the same in others.

While reading Hebrews 13 this past weekend, I took note of the author’s final exhortation as the Church races toward a historical period of intense persecution. “Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers,” he writes. And then he swiftly follows with, “Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,’I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.’” This is the invitation of Jesus, that we hold His presence and faithfulness as our Treasure, especially when all else falls away.

In leaner moments like today, we can respond to this invitation of Jesus and make generosity a way of life—perhaps more than ever. Or we can turn away from Jesus, consumed with fear for our future, and aimed only at pursuing and preserving our worldly prosperity. All the while Jesus extends his own generosity to us: he freely gives himself.

If I can help activate you or your employees in generosity, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly. I’d be delighted to recommend a resource best for you. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON COVID-19, PLEASE SEE OUR PAGE HIGHLIGHTING SOME OF THE BEST RESOURCES OUT THERE FOR FAITH DRIVEN INVESTORS & ENTREPRENEURS IN THIS SEASON.