On the social media pages of the Franciscan missionaries, every once in a while they will post pictures of the places they go, and the things they do, and every now and then, along will come a troll, and they will comment, “The bible says you shouldn't go around wearing long robes and reciting prayers.” Jesus is not against long robes and going about in religious garment, he wore a long robe and seamless garment, rather, the Lord Jesus is telling us not to be so full of ourselves - he calls us to live a life of charity, a life of emptying ourselves for love of him. The greatest temptation, or one of the greatest, is of course to give ourselves over to pride, or consumed from the power that comes from pride - this is the true message Jesus is trying to convey to us, he tells us to be careful. At the time of the Lord when he was living and active, the scribes and pharisee wore these long garments, and some of them had certain accessories on them like tassels so they could be identified according to their rank, of course, people would look upon them and show them honor and respect, and many of the officials of the religion of the jewish law at the time well, they enjoyed this a little too much - in fact they came to a point were that's what they lived for, to receive acknowledgment and for people to show them respect all the time, and they did everything they could so that the people could continue giving them acknowledgment and accolades and Jesus sees this, he sees whats happening here. He says they are more consumed with themselves than giving praise to God and giving God glory with their lives and giving. This is why God gives to us - so that we know that he is the giver, and so that we can give in return, that's what we are called to do - to know, love, and to serve the Lord. And by knowing him we come face to face, we have a true encounter with the God who is all love, all truth, all generous, all gracious, all glorious, that we know he loves us unconditionally.
What Jesus did for us is he died for us. St. Paul says that the Lord became poor so that we can become rich, rich with him and his love even with his power, that's what we need, for this encounter with God to consume us, and as we go forth and continue with that, it is not limited, it is eternal forever, the love of God, and we want to go out and give it, and serve, and this is what we should always be aware of - he loves us so much he gives us talents, gives us gifts, he calls us to go and use this for his glory. Some of us he gives us wealth and thats wonderful! The Lord wants us to share - often when we receive talents and gifts, they can come in many forms - very affluent with money, good looks, beauty, or many talents with instruments, or athleticism, or bright academically - these are all wonderful! Or craftsmanship, whatever it is, God gives us these gifts, and over time as we have this, people will acknowledge the and that's also great! We can enjoy this, and theres nothing wrong, we worked hard for it, nothing wrong with accepting a compliment or gesture of gratitude, but that's not what we should be living for. And of course, with all these gifts and talents that God gives us we can feel a sense of power, we want more - sometimes if we are caught up in certain sins or vices and overcoming things, the root of it all is our desire for power, the gifts and talents he gives us makes us feel powerful, in an inordinate way, an unnatural way, and we like that power. Think about this, what happens when somebody more attractive looking walks into a room, or more wealthy comes by, how do we feel? Do we feel intimidated, or get envious or jealous because they are here? And if we do, then perhaps maybe because we feel that our power is being threatened, more eyes will fall on them, or they have more than us and they will get the attention, someone with better talents comes in - immediately we can feel the same way and this is a good way to test ourselves - the way we should be if somebody with more wealth, or beauty, or skills, or talents than we do comes into our lives, is we should thank the Lord! He has given them so much! That is one way to overcome that. But if this happens to us, and we cannot overcome those feelings of jealousy or envy, then we repent, and we change our heart and we say, "From this day, I'm going to start giving to the Lord." It's all about showing glory to God, and what God has called us to. And if he has given us so much, we of course share it, or use it, - nothing wrong with having power, but what do we use the power for? Is it to make other peoples lives better? Thats what our power should be directed towards, to improve the lives of other people to make a difference in their lives, to give them what is good for them - this is charity. And even if that means more than what we have and desiring that they have more than we have, can we do that? That is true charity. The passage earlier from Saint Paul, that Jesus became poor so that we become rich, that is the heart we want to have, it doesn't mean we have to sell all our wealth but use it for the good of the Lord.
God calls us to give all to him, to do all things for love of him, and so whatever we have, a-lot or a little bit- it belongs to God. Remember that this life is temporary. In the book of Job, he had a-lot, great wealth and big family, and all of a sudden he loses it all, even on the verge of death and he says, that the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, naked I came into this world, naked I will leave this world. That should be our heart. Everything is temporary, it will come and go. What the Lord calls for us is that we live a life of charity, live a life for him, that everything, all our talents and all he has given us is directed towards knowing loving and serving him. That's where we are to go, if we go in that direction, we have nothing to worry about - in fact we are even happier because we are not consumed with greed, or jealousy, or envy, or pride, or ourselves, it's all about giving to the Lord. With that type of heart and mindset, when it is our time to go before the Lord, and we go before him as a good and faithful servant, even if we have little or we think what we have is insignificant - give it all to him, because he is the God of multiplication and he can do far more than we can ever ask or measure - give it to him as he has given himself to us. (this section can also be found in my title: "How To Truly Give")