What you give reveals why you live

What you give reveals why you live

Do you like to give presents or receive gifts? What gift would you give a king? I enjoy giving gifts and on our tenth Anniversary I think I gave a queen size gift. 

I’ve not had the opportunity to give any monarch a gift, but I have given the closest thing to a queen, in my life, a gift and that’s my wife. I gave my wife a series of envelopes over three days. Each morning unveiling a new surprise, a piece of the geographical map, for that day which took us across country to the gulf shore, strolling South Beach and it’s beautiful Art Deco district and then on to a beautiful cruise island hopping. 

The story about gift giving Charles Spurgeon shares below has to do with our heart. It  reveals our giving habits and clues us in on why you live? Do you live for Christ, others, yourself or for something else? Spurgeon gets to the heart of the matter when he asks how do I live using a beautiful illustration about a carrot, a horse and a king:

Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) understood the difference between Religion and the Gospel when he told the Tale of the King, the Carrot, and the Horse:
Once upon a time there was a gardener who grew an enormous carrot. He took it to his king and said, “My lord, this is the greatest carrot I’ve ever grown or ever will grow; therefore, I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you.” The king was touched and discerned the man’s heart, so as he turned to go, the king said, “Wait! You are clearly a good steward of the earth. I own a plot of land right next to yours. I want to give it to you freely as a gift, so you can garden it all.” The gardener was amazed and delighted and went home rejoicing.
But there was a nobleman at the king’s court who overheard all this, and he said, “My! If that is what you get for a carrot, what if you gave the king something better?” The next day the nobleman came before the king, and he was leading a handsome black stallion. He bowed low and said, “My lord, I breed horses, and this is the greatest horse I’ve ever bred or ever will; therefore, I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you.” But the king discerned his heart and said, “Thank you,” and took the horse and simply dismissed him. The nobleman was perplexed, so the king said, “Let me explain. That gardener was giving me the carrot, but you were giving yourself the horse.

The illustration tells us not to be in ministry, parenting, marriage, work, any calling, lifestyle, business if we think it is our way of paying back God to be saved or to receive blessing. That’s not how we are to Live life as if we are in debt as a slave seeking saving.   That’s is a works lifestyle. You are to do what you do because you already are saved, because you are loved, because you are forgiven. You don’t do it to save someone or save yourself. Imagine what the King will provide to you if you have a Carrot perspective.

 8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2

When you live with a carrot perspective you won’t worry about how you preached, how you lived your day, why you hammered out that proposal, how you were a parent, a grandparent, a spouse, or whether you lived up to the image others want you to live up to. With a carrot, you live in the image of Christ and allow the gospel to calibrate the way you live, serve, love, give, work and play. 

A carrot perspective matriculates your soul into being an heir of the kingdom not a slave to the world.  Out of your relationship with Christ you give away. Your love for Him drives you not to get blessing, not to win favor. We have that already in Christ. We simply live to give because we love the King. As you give this week ask one question: 

Is it carrot or a horse I’m giving away? 

Start giving away fewer and fewer horses and move carrots by being intentional about what you are giving.