All you need is love

I've had a few queries as to what Jesus is seeking to teach us in Luke 6:30 mentioned in the post of 3/11/2012. 

So lets take a further look.

Luke 6:30 "Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask for them not again".

From Luke 6:20 through to (and including) Luke 6:49 Jesus is asking each and everyone of us to take a good look at how we conduct our lives and asks us to review our current values, attitudes and behaviours.   Fundamentally, Jesus is asking those who follow him to adopt a 'new' set of values, attitudes and behaviours which are much more in line with his own teachings and life example.

Now, revisiting verse 30; for me, it is the spirit of the verse that is important.  Where would we be if Christians took this verse absolutely literally?  It is likely that society would very quickly consist of two groups; one group of saintly paupers owing nothing and another group of prosperous idlers and thieves!

Jesus is seeking a readiness amongst those who follow him to give and give and give; the Greek word give used here is in a continuous tense.  Jesus is talking about the habitual attitude, not the occassional generous impulse.   Love must be ready to be deprived of everything - if needs be.

There we have the crux of the matter - 'if needs be.'  It is not always in a person's best interests to get there and then just what they are asking for.  Their perceived need and our own view as to the extent the gift would be of immediate and longer term direct benefit to them needs to be considered, in love, before we decide to whether or not to give exactly what is being sought from us. 

There are many ways as Christians we can help someone in need.  This can be through personal one to one support; support which can be the giving of our time, goods or finances. 

But we may consider that, for example, giving support (material, time and money) to relevant voluntary organisations who are better equipped, skilled and experienced to most effectively meet the ongoing and longer term needs of some of those who seek our help is an alternative or additional way to share the valuable and scarce resources under our direct control.

One final throught;  we should never refrain from giving just out of a love for our ''possession'' - be the possession our time, material goods or money.