Tag: kindness

The Giving Itself

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

In the Torah portion of רְאֵה/see or behold, the Lord addresses the issue of giving, charity. It is expressed תִּפְתַּח אֶת-יָדְךָ, “open wide your hand,” as opposed to וְלֹא תִקְפֹּץ אֶת-יָדְךָ, “do not close your hand” (Deut. 15:7-8).

Charity, giving as God instructs is contrary to human nature, as it appreciates wealth and possession differently than the world around us. The references above are set in the context of the שמיטה/shemitah, the year of release. Do not close your hand when it should be open, and do not withhold what should be released.

Charity, giving, and the Shemitah speak to the heart of stewardship. How are we caring for people, possessions, and the world around us? The Lord is helping us to see, רְאֵה/see or behold, the vastness of life beyond our own need, our own desire, or, our own want.

How do we understand stuff? Things? Are things what defines us? As a minister, I have yet to see anyone take their possessions with them when their expiration date has come. I have, however, witnessed far too many arguments in families about the stuff left behind, especially wealth.

The Lord is, by this instruction, helping us to see ourselves, and our lives differently than our culture has defined it. He has entrusted each of us with blessing, wealth that can be financial, intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual, or all the above. How do we understand this?

“But who am I, and who are my people, That we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, And of Your own we have given You” (1 Chron 29:14).

Read that closely. It recognizes that all things/stuff come from God, and all that we can give to Him came from Him.

In giving to God, all that we actually give is the giving itself; and this speaks to the heart. Can we release back to Him what He released to us? Can our hearts trust Him enough to do so? Simply: we give because He gave.

We open our hand, and release what we have held. The Lord gave it in order to teach us His stewardship: of us, His creation, and ultimately our destination.

The inspired words of Paul, and the teaching and example of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus, challenge us (Lk. 12:32-34). Yet, they are speaking to the same heart attitude. There are too many biblical references to include that speak to their intent in teaching us proper stewardship of God’s giving toward us, and our giving the giving back to the Giver (1 Tim. 6:17-18; 2 Cor. 8-9; Ro. 12:8).

Why? The giving expected of God’s people speaks to the reality of the reality beyond this world. Stewardship changes the mind fixated on self-fulfilling desires, to service unto God. It is worship, not just with words and actions, but with stewarded possessions.

Messiah said, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8).

The lessons of stewardship in finances, possessions, even time itself, teach us to look past assets and belongings to the human other. By giving unto the Giver of what He has given, we learn yet another lesson in stewarding, safeguarding, and all that Messiah spoke of in Matthew 10:8. Healing, cleansing, raising, and casting from the well of freely given and received grace, grace waiting to be released into the lives of the those around us.

All that the Father gives is of grace, and from this grace received, we open hands and hearts that would otherwise be closed.

Be well. Shalom.

A Lesson from … Esau?

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

“And Rebecca took the beloved garments of her older son Esau that were in the house…” (Gen. 27:15).

וַתִּקַּח רִבְקָה אֶת-בִּגְדֵי עֵשָׂו בְּנָהּ הַגָּדֹל, הַחֲמֻדֹת, אֲשֶׁר אִתָּהּ, בַּבָּיִת

I am always amazed that we can read verses of Scripture, and even teach them year after year, and miss one beautiful detail.

If anyone knows anything about Esau, it is that he and Jacob struggled, and that Jacob was chosen by God over him to continue the covenant established with Abraham. He is portrayed, and rightly so, as a wild man, “Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field” (Gen. 25:27), one whose brides caused bitterness of spirit to his father and mother (Gen. 26:34-35).

Still, there is an interesting detail in the verse above regarding the preparation of Jacob as Rebecca disguised him, she used הַחֲמֻדֹת, אֲשֶׁר אִתָּהּ, בַּבָּיִת, beloved, precious (הַחֲמֻדֹת) garments belonging to Esau that were in her house.

Esau had his own house, wives, family, so why were his beloved garments there? The rabbis explain, that when Esau would appear before his aging father Isaac, he would change into his favorite, most important clothes; clothes that he kept in his parents house. Why?

Esau loved and respected his father. Isaac was nearly blind at this time (Gen. 27:1), and he would not notice the quality of Esau’s clothing. He couldn’t see Esau’s clothing. Yet, Esau could. Rather than appearing before his father in the same clothing he had hunted and butchered in, Esau, for the love and respect of his beloved father, change into his best clothes before visiting Isaac.

Rebecca, knowing this, used those very beloved, purposely placed clothes, to deceive Isaac when she disguised Jacob; and it was perhaps in those very beloved clothes that Jacob ran for his life (Gen. 27:43). In his anger, Esau then did what was displeasing in his fathers eyes, and took a daughter from his uncle Ishmael (Gen. 28:8-9).

Esau wore his finest garments in order to show respect for his father, a gesture that Isaac was unable to recognize. It was from a genuine love and respect that Esau had for him, after all, Isaac and Esau shared a close father and son relationship (Gen. 25:28). Esau was not posturing to gain favor, as that he already had. No, it was Jacob who wore Esau’s outward expression of love and respect in order to complete the ruse of his mother, thus trampling on Esau.

The life and lessons of Esau are often overlooked in light of his many mistakes, but the love he had for Isaac should not be overlooked. It was genuine. Esau was not perfect, but neither was he outside the Abrahamic tent of kindness.

Even after his brother steals his birthright and blessing, and runs for his life, it is Esau who, years later, “ran to meet him (Jacob), and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept” (Gen. 33:4). This action was rooted in the same love and respect that Esau had for their father, kindness perhaps learned from Abraham himself.

Sometimes a small detail, even the placement of clothes, can open our eyes enough to see someone differently than we have before. God did not choose Esau, and that is His sovereign design; but there are still valuable lessons we can learn from him, as it says in Pirkei Avot 4:1, “Ben Zoma said: Who is wise? He who learns from all men, as it is written, “I have gained understanding from all my teachers” (Psalm 119:99). And Paul exhorts us, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Ro. 12:9).

Esau loved Isaac, and he ultimately showed his love for Isaac by loving and welcoming home his brother Jacob, and years later they, together, buried their father (Gen. 35:29).

Be well. Shalom.

The Camel Test

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, Inspiration1 Comment

Abraham sends his servant Eliezer (אֱלִיעֶזֶר/help of God) to find a wife for his beloved son Isaac from along his family, “you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac” (Gen. 24:3-4).

Eliezer arrives in Nahor with ten camels, and others treasures in tow as a sign of Abraham’s wealth. He settles by the city well, and formulates a plan: “Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master” (Gen. 24:14).

She must offer water to both Eliezer and his ten camels? An extraordinary test for an extraordinary mission. This young woman, Rebecca, would draw roughly 100 gallons of water for the camels, in addition to the water draw for her regular chores. This was a test of kindness.

Abraham is known for his faith, see Genesis 15:6 or Romans 4; yet, he is also recognized for his kindness: חֶסֶד/ḥeseḏ. This Hebrew word is difficult to convey in English. It describes so much with so little. Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks defines hesed this way, “What is hessed? It is usually translated as ‘kindness’ but it also means ‘love’ – not love as emotion or passion, but love expressed as deed. Theologians define hessed as covenant love … Hessed is the love that is loyalty, and the loyalty that is love.” Sacks further explains that while tzedakah (charity) can be a gift or a loan of money, hessed is a gift of ourselves to the human other.

Hesed – kindness, loyalty, love – is a powerful, albeit simple word. In the Hebrew Scriptures it describes the covenant relationship of the Lord with Israel, and ultimately, how our human relationships are to be modeled in action.

The cultivation of kindness (חֶסֶד) begins in the home, with children observing the kindness displayed by their familial influences. From generation to generation, לדור ודור/le’dor va’dor, the kindness shown to neighbors develops in the context of family.

Abraham is said to have been an initiator of kindness. In other words, he did not wait to act in a kind manner, he was looking for the occasion to do so. We find this trait in Rebecca, as she initiated the kindness shown to Eliezer’s camels: “When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking” (Gen. 24:19).

It is important to note that Rebecca was not a peasant girl. She was from a family of position and social standing. In this we discover the heart of kindness: to bend or reach down. She reached down and showed kindness to Eliezer, by giving him water, and to the camels, by drawing water for them. The test of the camels designed by Eliezer was a test of kindness. Certainly in Eliezer’s mind a bride of Isaac would have to possess the qualities of the house of Abraham. She did.

The lesson we learn from Rebecca is simple, yet, as always, difficult. She challenges us to walk out the covenant commitment of kindness. To walk in a manner that is selfless, and attuned to the need of the wider community around us. From the Word, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Mic. 6:8). As Yeshua/Jesus expressed it: “Therefore, do unto others as you would have them do unto you: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12).

The name Rebecca (רִבְקָה/riḇqâ) means to ensnare. Yet, when used for a girls name, it implies to ensnare with beauty. It was not Rebecca’s outward beauty that caught Eliezer’s attention, but the beauty of her kindness. We, dear friends, can look beautiful, righteousness, perfect on the outside, but inward be filled with dead men’s bones (Matt. 23:27). This moment in Rebecca’s life demonstrates that the outer appearance is secondary to the inner beauty that reaches out and blesses those in their moment of weakness and vulnerability.

Those born-again, now drawn close to the Living God in Messiah Yeshua by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, shine out the quality of kindness exampled in the House of God. As He reached down to us, filling and refreshing us, we reach out to those around us in like manner. Let us imitate this (Eph. 5:1), to the glory of our Father, not ensnaring by an outer appearance of righteousness, but catching people up in His kindness that refreshes them in an exhausting world.

As Peter writes: “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control [a]perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Pet. 1:5-8).

As a Bride preparing, His fruit will come forth, and in the watering we will be caught up in Him, by His kindness.

Be well. Shalom.