“Give Out” for Jesus
My daughter surprised me with one of those cute succulent plants—the kind with fat stems and chunky grey/green leaves. In the transition from her house to mine, several leaves fell off. I gathered them up, intending to throw them away, but she stopped me.
“Don’t throw ’em away. You can make baby plants from them.”
“Really?” I said, eyeing the leaves skeptically. “How? Plant them? Stick ’em in water, or what?”
“No, just toss them on top of the dirt. Roots will grow from the stem side, and then a baby plant will appear.”
I followed her instructions, and sure enough, each leaf produced a miniature replica of the parent plant. The baby plant drew nutrients from the leaf until it had developed enough of a root system to sustain itself. As the baby thrived, the mother leaf withered until it vanished into the soil.
Some days, I feel like that mother leaf.
I give in ministry. I give in work. I give in relationships, parenting, and grandparenting. I love, and serve, and pray, and spend myself until, some days, I feel like there’s nothing left. I am empty.
Then I get up the next day and do it all over again.
The apostle Paul wasn’t a 21st-century woman juggling marriage, ministry, work, and family, but he understood what it felt like to give until you are, as my Southern grandma used to say, “give out.”
Listen to a snippet of Paul’s description of the challenges he faced every day: “I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep [Are we sure he wasn’t a parent?]; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food [Sounds like a parent to me]; I have been cold and naked (Well, maybe not). . . . Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?” (2 Corinthians 11:27–29 NIV).
Paul may not have had a spouse, kids, or grandkids, but he understood what it means to be “give out.”
Yet one chapter later, he declared his love and commitment to his “children,” his beloved Corinthian church members: “I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well” (2 Corinthians 12:15 NIV).
The New Living Translation renders it this way: “I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you.”
The English Standard Version adds the implied spiritual component, “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls” (emphasis added).
Today’s self-centered, me-at-all-costs culture turns up its egocentric nose at concepts like sacrifice, but God does not. Culture tells us that to feel fulfilled we must put ourselves first and squeeze others into the margins, but that’s not what Jesus said: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33 NIV).
When culture (and our own inherent selfishness) says hoard your time, energy, and resources, God says give—sacrificially even. The Macedonian believers were beautiful examples of this type of sacrificial giving. Listen to Paul’s description: “For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave voluntarily” (2 Corinthians 8:3 NASB, emphasis added).
While culture tells us to seek satisfaction in self-indulgence, God calls us to find our greatest satisfaction in serving Him and others. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it” (Luke 9:23–24 NIV).
When culture says you can’t pour from an empty jug, God says, “Yes, you can.” Paul faced an infirmity that may have caused him physical pain and certainly hindered his ability to serve, but God reminded him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
God wasn’t telling Paul to plow through each day with no regard for his health and well-being. Guarding our physical, emotional, and spiritual health is wise. Jesus invited His disciples to come away with Him and rest after strenuous seasons of ministry (Mark 6:31), but they rested after working, not instead of.
Some nights, when I lay my head on my pillow and feel the weariness seeping through my body, I close my eyes and smile—albeit a tired sort of smile. I scroll through the events of the day and rest in the knowledge that I’ve served God by giving myself to and for others. This is the true path to fulfillment, for “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Other days, I realize I’ve expended my time, energy, and resources for things that won’t matter in eternity.
I don’t want to reach the end of my life and leave behind a trail of empty investments in myself and my kingdom of one. I want to gladly spend and be spent for God and the kingdom of His Son. I want to pour everything I have and everything I am into one of the few things in life that will last forever—people.
One day, like those succulent leaves, I’ll vanish from the earth. When I do, I want to have invested everything I have to help those who come behind me grow and flourish.
I suspect you do too.
One way we can be sure is to look over the events of each day and ask ourselves, Am I “give out” for Jesus? If the answer is yes, then we’re right where we should be.
“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).
—Written by Lori Hatcher. Used by permission from the author. Click here to connect with Lori.
