oh hey beth

"And I'll give, give, give..."

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends"

John 15:13

I was listening to 104.7 The Fish on my way home from school today, switching back and forth between that and B98.5 - the two radio stations that play Christmas music. Staying on the station that was playing the better song at the moment, or the one that wasn't playing commercials. Today, the fish is doing a fundraiser called "Help Rebuild Haiti" which is put together by FFTP (Food for the Poor). In between songs they would have the Deejays come on the air and broadcast this by talking about what had happened to Haiti, and how we could help. All of the money donated is going towards building a house. A $2,600 donation will buy a Haitian family a whole new house. I believe this is a great thing, and believe that there can never be too much outreach and giving to the poor/helping the poor. As Jesus says in Luke 12 "Sell your possessions and give to the poor." But what caught my attention as I listened to these Deejays explain how you could give, was how almost every time they mentioned it, they added something about self-gratification. "You could give $200 and you'll feel great doing it!" or "Support a family and you can send your mother-in-law a picture of them, and then you wont have to buy her an actual gift, and you and her will both feel like you've done something 'good' and you wont even have to make a trip to the mall." Of course they didn't say these words, but the idea is the same. Give without sacrificing anything. We've made giving too easy.

TOMS. Another gift that I can benefit from! Yes, the idea that every time someone buys a pair of shoes from this company they give one to a shoeless person in Africa is great, but the idea that giving is now a way to receive is plaguing our country! If I buy this pair of TOMS for someone that is in need, I get a pair! These'll look great with my new shirt! And I'm helping someone out too. This is so easy!

"Sell your possessions..."

Sell my possessions? Are you crazy? I can give this kid in Africa a pair of shoes and gain from it as well, why would I sell my possessions!

What about the widow who gave all that she had? Why aren't we mimicking her? Why do we instead follow the rich men who give out of wealth?

"He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ^3'Truly I tell you,' he said, 'this poor widow has put in more than all the others. ⁴ All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.'"

Luke 21: 2-4

For her poverty was counted more than the abundance of the rich.

A good feeling is the result of giving, but is not the reason for giving.

Treasure in Heaven is both the result and the reason.

As we are entering this Christmas season - a season of "giving" - let us remember what it really means to give.

And what is the greatest gift?

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

"If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."

1 Corinthians 13

If love is the greatest gift, what is love?

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends"

The greatest love - the greatest gift - is one with absolutely no self-gratification! There is no one there to applaud you as you parade around, letting everyone know what a great gift you've given. To give the ultimate gift, is to lay down your life! And the ultimate return is stored up in Heaven.

God promises the greatest reward, and as we cheerfully give there will be gratification, but we do not cheerfully give so there will be gratification.

Give out of love.

Love like Christ.

And your treasure will be stored in Heaven.

"...nothing more than material"

I love Jon Foreman. No really, I do. I am convinced that if he had been around during bible times he could have had a book named after him, or at least had some of his writings in there like Paul. When you think about it, he really is like a modern day Paul. His writings aren't in letter form and they aren't directed at certain countries, but his writings are full of wisdom and teaching and they are directed at the people of this world; the saved and the unsaved. The lovers and the haters; fighters and peacemakers. He is a lyrical genius and God has blessed him with wisdom beyond that of most people, an ability to put it into song form, and has given him a stage to stand on and share that wisdom through music.

Solomon is considered the wisest man to ever live, in fact he even asked God for wisdom; a gift that is more valuable than silver or gold. Jon has been gifted with that same wisdom. A combination of knowledge and understanding that puts him in the elite of people and as I listen to him sing or talk, he speaks truth! Something that we aren't used to hearing. He talks about things like materialism, and how these tangible things mean nothing! He sings in one of Switchfoot's songs, 4:12 "I still can't believe that all we are, and that all of our dreams are nothing more than material." We live our lives day by day, year by year filling it with these materialistic things. Hoping that somehow they will last forever, but they crash and burn just as our bodies do, and as the tree's and the flowers do. "...the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:8

Jon writes for everybody. My favorite song on his solo ep Fall, is Cure for the Pain in which Jon writes about everybody's search to find a way to stop the pain in every aspect of life. In things like relationships, we look for things to take away the pain from broken or lost relationships. We look for ways to stop real, physical pain but it usually ends in just a cover up, and we resort to things that do us nothing but harm; things that take us to another reality, from physical pain to emotional pain. And the point that Jon eventually gets to is that sometimes we are called to suffer through pain, and he points us to the suffering that Christ had on the cross, and the pain that He feels everyday as his children, us, the believers, the followers, His people, the ones that are supposed to glorify Him in everything that we do, as we spit in his face and deny him a place in our lives He suffers! If we were to know a fraction of the suffering that He has done for us, how much better would we live our lives? "...but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3b-5 We live our lives running away from suffering, trying to numb out the pain. Foreman writes "Oh Lord to suffer like you do, it would be a lie to run away." Running away is a lie! Should we not turn and face our troubles and pain, knowing that it produces perseverance? Should we numb ourselves to it and run away from it like fools? "...but fools despise wisdom and discipline." Proverbs 1:7

Jon has inspired me through every song that he writes and every article that he posts. I could write on him and his wisdom and lyrics forever, but my fingers would end up falling off.

Jon Foreman is not my idol, he is my hero. He understands what most don't. He is a man among men and a hero among heroes. He lives a life worth living.

"We were mean to live for so much more, have we lost ourselves?"

-Jon Foreman, Switchfoot

A couple of his own articles. Strokes of genius in my opinion.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-foreman/the-dark-horse-joan-of-ar_b_558967.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-foreman/the-economy-of-the-garden_b_677770.html