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By Christian Buckley | Humanitarian Jesus
Recently during a radio interview for Humanitarian Jesus the interviewer tried to sum up the idea of living as a Christian humanitarian as follows:
"So what you’re really saying, what you really want people to do, is to take part of their tithe, you know the 10%, and direct that to social causes and need, right?"
Being that it was a live interview, I kindly responded, “Not at all. I want people to abandon the 10% view of life and adopt Christ’s actual call to give a 100% of what wasn’t theirs to begin with.” Silence -- followed by a rapid shift to, “How about that interview with Francis Chan, great guy.”
So there it was in a burst of radio failure. He wanted a safe answer and I gave him danger. He wanted a small ask and I told him there was none. He had a 10% view of devotion, asking how much of his stuff he had to give up, and I was challenging that by asking how much of God’s stuff he was planning to keep.
For most of us seeing the ravages of poverty, homelessness, disease, and hunger in our world is not the problem. And for the average church and Christian out there today wanting to do something about those issues isn’t the problem either. The real problem is that we approach giving and helping and serving with a 10% mindset. Somewhere along the line we cut a deal with ourselves that if we gave 10% of our time, talents, and resources to God we could rightly hold on to the other 90%. As a result we have sadly created a culture of 10% Christian living and even worse, an understanding that the other 90% was actually ours to begin with.
The starting point for living as a Christian humanitarian is to wake up every day seeing our stuff, our lives, and our time as 100% Christ’s for his work and his glory. We have to abandon our bargains and balances and resist the temptation to ask if we have done enough. We stand no chance of making a serious impact in the world around us and the brokenness that exists if all we can spare of ourselves is 10%.
Imagine if Christ had adopted a 10% world view. What if he gave only 10% of his time and passion while he was on earth and considered the other 90% his? What if he could only have spared 10% of his life on the cross or had chosen to take on just 10% of our brokenness and sin? Christ gave 100% of everything he had and everything he was to the people around him and to us. Do we really believe that God sacrificed 100% of his son for 10% of our lives?
The role of the church in this new era of the social gospel and Christian humanitarianism isn’t really to show people global needs or create pathways for involvement because great advancements already exist in those areas. The pressing task is to abandon the 10% Christian mentality we have accepted and give 100% of who we are and what we have to following Christ and investing in the world around us for His glory. If we do that, the how and what and where of humanitarian investment will follow as details. If we don’t, the details are irrelevant.
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Great topic and thanks for the courage to address it. I don’t know of a greater sacred cow in all of Christiandom than the 10%. I believe this is for the most part motivated by fear- reverting to old covenant law to ensure our ministries are subsidized. Churches and Christians are actually hurt more by this legalism since law only produces mediocre efforts at best. With a life of total surrender we will discover a loving God who doesn’t want to take everything away but wants to do exceeding more than we could ever ask or think.
Comment by Stevetrevino - Aug 02, 2010 @ 09:03 AM
100% correct! We need to fight daily, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to remind ourselves of these truths. 0% is ours—God owns it all. I am a steward, not an owner.
Comment by Jim West - Aug 02, 2010 @ 05:07 PM
Most of us accepted the gift of salvation, like we were joining a club, what’s it going to cost me? It is sad that our faith is viewed more as a Sunday social than a life change. Born again in Jesus Christ, can anything be better. I pray that we all will realize that this beautiful gift came with no limits and we will have the pleasure of answering the question, what did you do with the gifts I gave you? Thank you for your passion, it’s contagious.
Comment by Jim Dunn - Aug 03, 2010 @ 05:02 PM