Becoming More Like Jesus: GenerositySample

Generosity: How Sabbath Changes the Tyranny of Injustice

In this reading plan, we are exploring five practices from the way of Jesus that can help us cultivate a heart of generosity. So far, we have considered how the discipline of solitude produces in us the fruit of compassion, empathy, and gratitude, which makes way for our hearts to overflow with generosity. Additionally, the practice of silence is the place where we exchange our hurtful words born out of a critical spirit that aims to divide and accuse for words that offer light and love, transforming our hearts so that we might be free to give generously to others the encouragement they so desperately need.

There is a third practice from the life of Jesus that can fill our hearts with generosity while opening our eyes to the desperate cry of so many people living under the tyranny of oppression: Sabbath.

Like the practices of solitude and silence, the Sabbath may initially seem not to have an obvious connection to generosity. The Sabbath is a time to rest in God's arms knowing that we are truly loved regardless of our accomplishments. During this time we can delight in the gift which is the Sabbath and the Giver who generously bestowed it upon all of creation. It is a day that we are to observe and keep holy. The Sabbath is all of these things and so much more.

If you are reading this Bible plan, it is likely that you are like me and have been blessed with the financial means and necessary time margin to choose one day every week to practice Sabbath rest. However, even today, there are countless millions of followers of the Way who live under the tyranny of injustice and oppression, which deprives them of the freedom to stop their work. To provide for basic necessities like water, food, clothing, and shelter, they must toil seven days a week, often under inhumane circumstances.

The author of the book of Ecclesiastes wrote, "Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed--with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors, there was power--with no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead, who have already died, more fortunate than the living, who are still alive;" (Ecclesiastes 4:1-2NRSV) The hopelessness dripping from these words does not have to be the final chapter for so many drowning under oppression and poverty.

So how does practicing the Sabbath extend generosity to the multitudes of people created in the image of God crying out for help?

Author Dan B. Allender offers this guidance, "The Sabbath changes the tyranny of injustice and announces in real time that no one is to be left behind in the rut of powerlessness... The Sabbath, therefore, is not merely a day to stop working; it is a day to renounce all activity that impoverishes, enslaves, or demeans others. It is a day set aside not to take or to procure, but to nourish and to give... All human beings are created to enjoy the freedom of the Sabbath."

Today, let's consider the intersection between Sabbath and generosity. How might practicing the Sabbath slow down the natural flow of consumerism in our lives? And how might Sabbath set the tone for the other six days of our week as we seek to give sacrificially to those drowning in the undercurrent of oppression and poverty?