Give to the Givers…

It’s a good way to give.

In a few days, you will celebrate Thanksgiving—a holiday to focus, with a good meal with family and friends, what you must be grateful for. Everybody knows any good meal requires prep—the get ready to throw down. One sure fire prep to meaningful Thanksgiving is  “servant giving”. Giving to givers is a good way to give. God illustrates this kind of giving in Ezekial 45 as seen in the allotment of the sacred district of the temple: Make a place for God in your giving. It is rooted in the principle of inheritance (nachalah) and allotment—terumah (תְּרוּמָה)—where you give out of what God has given you. Ezekiel 45:1,4:

¹" when you divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an allotment to the LORD…; ⁴"It shall be the holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the LORD, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.

EXPOSITION: Think of giving to God this way: When you give to God you are giving to the place and the people who are the God-givers—the servants who tend to the work of the worship of God—the priests, ministers, the doorkeepers, the musicians, custodians, the teachers, preachers, bus drivers, childcare staff, musician, etc. The work of God doesn’t fall from the sky. There are servants behind the service. There are many ways to thank them—not to make them rich, but to enrich them with gratitude. The God-givers need housing, food, resources, in a word—provisions. God has no needs. He doesn’t need a handout. He wants you to allocate resources to the feet-on-the-ground servants, not just preachers, but also preparers—those who are the get’er-doners who get things done. When you withhold from them, you are, by de facto, withholding from God. In other scriptures, there is a clear prohibition against this kind of myopic, short arm giving:

4"You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing. Duet. 25:4

But when you give to the God-givers, you affirm James 1:17 that “Every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord.” You’re just paying it forward.

ILLUSTRATION: How does giving to servants who tend to the work and worship of humanitarian giving look today?

Quilen Blackwell moved from Wisconsin to the south side of Chicago from ministry school to serve. For more than a decade, he’s worked to cultivate opportunities for Chicago area’s young people. Several years ago, he came up with a surprising solution: flowers.  He turned vacant lots into eco-friendly flower farms and now employs 25 local young people to grow, arrange, and sell flowers through his nonprofit shop, Southside Blooms. By finding value in neglected spaces, he is giving youth a chance to blossom.

They bought two vacant lots and started a commercial flower farm and workforce development program that pays young people to raise the flowers. “Give them the right opportunity … the right support structures, and then all of a sudden you see the beauty of their lives shining for all to see.”  

“We’ve retail bouquets, as well as flowers for weddings, corporate events, and everything in between… all the way up to big ticket events at the Field Museum.” Their slogan? Flowers that empower.

 APPLICATION: Give to the God-givers doing God’s work. When you do, you don’t need the power of military units patrolling the mean streets of Any City, USA.