Give It Away

Melissa Presser learned that faith in God is taking a risk for something greater than ourselves.

Faith is risky, or rather, it feels risky. It’s like playing the stock market; you invest without knowing what the return will be. Many of us invest our money not knowing the outcome. In the same way, God also tells us to invest without knowing what the return will be. Faith then has to be exercised. An action has to take place. To love, to believe, to put ourselves out there.

At first glance, a risk like playing the stock market and a risk of faith seem somewhat the same. Both require us to give something away, to give up something, not knowing what we will receive back. Both can be scary or exhilarating.

But with faith, the risk is calculated because we already know that it will pay off dividends; we just don’t know the outcomes, or in what ways.

The parable of the ten gold coins that can be found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19, got me thinking about what it looks like to take a risk, to invest myself in and for the Kingdom of God. The gold coins, what God gives to us in time, talent and treasure, He gives for something greater; we trade it for something better.

We sow in love, we receive love.

We sow in mercy, we receive mercy.

We sow in peace, we receive peace.

We will see a return, but we have to give away what we have in order to receive the greater. He gave me a heart to serve Him. How will I give my heart away? How will I invest for the Kingdom of God?

woman hugging small child

This is always where the questions come in. What about the resistance? How do I not play it safe? How do I move forward not knowing what the return is going to be?

But does any of that even matter? We know that there is a return, a great one, and it will be glorious.

God is teaching us to not be afraid to take a risk. He is not a risk. Investing in the Kingdom is a sure thing.

He is telling us to look for invitations and open doors. He is telling us to look for Him in the least, the lost, the broken and the hungry. He is telling us that when in doubt, give it away. After all, it was never ours to begin with.

When we look at the great spectrum of the things we can do for God, the landscape can be quite overwhelming. Where to begin, what to do and who to serve. We think we may have to invest our gifts in large projects or on some grand scale, but God is not looking at the size of the project or the grand scale in which we will serve. Like King David, He is looking at our hearts.

He is asking us: did you prepare that meal for your family with love? Did you make time for that friend who just lost their job? Did you call your mother just to tell her how much you love her?

In all these things, we behold the face of our Lord. We visit Him, we care for Him through the service of our hands and hearts. Sowing our gifts in love, in mercy and in peace.

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God wants us to live for Him by the giving of ourselves. #catholicmom

Faith is not for the fainthearted. In order for us to live in faith, we must take action. We must abandon ourselves to something greater. To give up control, to jump in with our whole selves, to not just exist but to live.

God wants us to live for Him by the giving of ourselves. By exchanging what He has given us to enrich the lives of those around us -- in the small, mundane chores of the day, to the big unexpected stages He puts us on, in our parishes and in our communities.

child handing an apple to someone

And the more willing we are to take the leap, the risk to give up what never belonged to us in the first place, the more willing God is to use us in the most unexpected of spaces.

I hope today that you will stop focusing on what you don’t have and start investing in what you do have. In shifting our perspective, we realize very quickly that we are always needed by God, even when we don’t feel worthy or needed ourselves. Even more so when we don’t feel worthy or needed!

So, I’ve decided I’m going to take the risk. It’s a good one. I’ve counted the cost like Jesus has told me. I’m not going to play it safe with my faith. God’s return is a guarantee I am can be sure of.