ONE OF THE KEY concepts in seeking a Christlike spirit is the art of self-evaluation. It is among the most difficult concepts to master, because each of us is hard-wired to take our value from external sources: an award, a diploma, praise from authority. We often look to how others regard us for clues as to how regard ourselves. But God looks to the heart, and we have to learn to see how God sees. Simply fulfilling a checklist of behaviors is not success. Good standing in the community is not success. We must shine a light on our motivations, our attitude, our character.
Let us say that God is convicting you to become a more generous person. You have identified generosity as your spirit change. There are many ways in which you might grow in generosity — through your money, time, attention, resources, or words. But the first inclination most of us have is to tally up the quantity of dollars, hours, and kindnesses over the past month or year and then make a goal to increase that quantity. We immediately jump to the idea that increasing instances of generosity equals being more generous.
Or, on a more sophisticated level, we might remember the account of the widow who donated her last few pennies to the church, which Jesus praised as being a larger donation than the vast contributions of the wealthy folks. She gave sacrificially, of a higher percentage than anyone else. The temptation here is to think that raising your percentage of generous incidents higher than you thought possible will serve as proof that you are really changing into a generous person.
What Luke 21 doesn’t mention specifically, but which we can deduce, is that the widow gave her money willingly, even eagerly. You just don’t give all of your money away reluctantly, you do it enthusiastically, devotedly, passionately. That attitude, that spirit, is what you’re after when you are trying to work on generosity. Forget the specifics, the tally. Sure, you have to live out the change practically and concretely, but your focus should always be on changing your inner motivation — on wearing down your resistance to the impulse of generosity. Doing it for the right reasons.
The apostle Paul says that attitudes matter:
“And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. ‘For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.’” (1 Corinthians 9:7)
and that God is invested in your motivations:
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” (Philippians 2:13)
So when you’re working on a spirit change, and you’re trying to evaluate how things are going, you shouldn’t rely on how hard you worked, how much you did, how impressed people were, or how proud you feel. You need to ask yourself: Have I been doing it for the right reasons? Have I been developing the attitude that God wants to cultivate in me? Have I been motivated by guilt or pride or self-satisfaction — or is it by joy, and a by tangible experience of God’s love nudging me to take a risk?
“…they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.” (2 Corinthians 8:2)
