Are you feeling it? You’re not on the clock right now: you’re on the calendar. You’ve been off for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and (mostly) focused on your life apart from your work. The press of minutes and hours is waiting for you as you re-start, but you’re still caught in the maze of days.
Last Thursday was Thanksgiving Day: our culture advocates for gratitude to define one day out of 365. What about the rest?
Friday was Black Friday: tracing back to the 1950s, in Philadelphia, the retail world proposed that shoppers would be unleashed into Main Street consumer frenzy in search of deals.
The National Retail Federation declared in 2005 that today – the Monday after Thanksgiving – would be Cyber Monday. The practical nuance: “live” shopping would happen on Black Friday, while “on-line” shopping – from your workstation, on company time – would commence when you were back on duty. Their goal: keep your credit card in the fast lane on the commercial expressway.
Talk about late to the party: finally, in 2012, Giving Tuesday was introduced with the intent to turn attention to generosity. What gives?
Soft and squishy, Giving Tuesday advocates for giving back through charitable acts, volunteering for community-serving causes, performing random acts of kindness or donating money.
In a society that measures everything while seeking to track and influence behavior, the net-transactional impact of Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be quantified before year-end. What do you do with a back-to-work Tuesday that aspires to trigger volunteer benevolence without a credible metric? How can you be on the job in your career life while aspiring to exercise meaningful charity? Will a visit to a heartfelt GoFundMe appeal satisfy your need to just check a box?
Here’s the deal, my friend: you aren’t just another American patsy who is under the influence of a culture that wants to control your thoughts, conversations and behavior. Instead, you’re one of those exceptions whose faith status – as an intentional follower of the Lord Jesus – establishes the basis for your thoughts, informs your conversations and ultimately models your best behaviors. Paul made it both simple and profound:
“And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1)
The calendar for Christians is not Hallmark’s template. For us, it’s Christmas on December 25th. It’s Easter every Sunday (the celebration of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection happens every time we gather for church!). It’s Thanksgiving every day, because gratitude – for Jesus’ followers – is a constant. Here’s the breakthrough: when gratitude is one’s perspective, generosity is irrepressible.
In reality, here’s the reset that follows the Jesus’ approach: start each week with Giving Sunday, followed by Giving Monday, Giving Tuesday, Giving Wednesday, Giving Thursday, Giving Friday and Giving Saturday. If your resolve to give begins to wane, hit the “reset” button on your gratitude, and you’ll re-enter the fast-lane. Your acceleration will be attributed to God’s tailwind of blessing that catalyzes your gratitude and multiplies your generosity. Rinse and repeat…
It’s the most famous verse in the Bible:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16)
The Father’s love motivated Him to give His Son. The Son’s love motivated Him to give His life. What does your love – for God and for others – motivate you to do, in His Name?
The answer is evident: it’s to give, in keeping with the examples He left for us to emulate. Lost people “give” as cued, maybe one day a year. Saved people? We give as a manner of living, motivated by the God Who never stops giving.
You don’t pay a subscription fee for this weekly conversation: it’s our gift, to you. Hope you appreciate it…
— Bob Shank
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Bob, Your gift to me, many years ago, of the Master’s Program and your continued teaching are definitely in the top ten (9 grandchildren and Leslie are 1-9) things that I am most grateful for in my life. You continue to inspire and remind me of the life I want to lead and I thank you for that.
Bob, thank you for taking the time early each Monday morning to write the Point of View that is always a challenge and a reminder to us as to how we are to live as followers of Christ. I still have a notebook full of POV’s that were sent out by fax before we went digital. They are a treasure.
Love YOU Bobby!