I read this phrase somewhere recently and it’s had me asking the question, “What is the other side of why?” It baffles me that I didn’t come up with the answer sooner because it seems so obvious. For me “The other side of why” is “Why not?” I was giving an offering message at my church last week and I shared from Matthew 7:19-21. Jesus is making it clear, to His disciples and now to us that we are not to lay up treasures on earth, but rather in heaven. He further challenges His listeners that our hearts will follow our treasures. Many of us would question, “Why give?” of our time, treasures and talents. My rebuttal has become “Why not?” Many would say, “I can’t afford to give” and I again would respond, “You can’t afford not to.”
Perhaps many of us are too afraid to look at the other side of why because it will expose where our treasures are and consequently where our hearts are. Who wants to find their hearts in a place of selfishness, or fear, or complacency, or apathy? It may be hard to believe that even though I’ve been a full-time missionary for the past 20 years I, too, have lived on this side of why. Yes I gave but often with conditions, reservations, unbelief that anything I was giving was making a difference. It’s taken some challenges along my journey to help me cross over to the other side of why and live in the why not give unconditionally of my time, treasures and talents. I read this quote by Oswald Chambers, my favourite devotional writer, a few months ago and it really struck me: “We are saved from hell and total destruction, and then we talk about making sacrifices!” Quite a rebuke! He who was timeless stepped into time, relinquished His treasures in heaven to join us on this decrepit earth, and gave all He had so we had something worth giving away. Truly it isn’t about doing Him a favour. Rather, it’s about freely giving away Who has been so freely given to us. It’s about making it our aim to be well pleasing to Him (2 Corinthians 5:9).
There are plenty of opportunities out there to give of our time, treasures and talents. For example, the last few years I have given my time to participate in a spinathon where funds go to human trafficking victims. It helps to bring awareness to the community of the realities of these audacities happening in their own city and nation. Many would say, “Why do it as it’s just a drop in an ocean?” But the other side of why says, “Even a drop has a ripple effect!”
Let’s live on the other side of why and start demonstrating the why not?
Why not reach out to someone today with a smile, a word of encouragement, a “Thank you”, an “I’m sorry”, a “Bless you”?
Why not pray for those who seem beyond God’s reach?
Why not send a whats app or facebook message or an email saying, “I’m thinking of you. How are you doing?”
Why not do some volunteering and invest in widows, orphans, the marginalized?
Let’s be as Jesus exhorts us in Matthew 5, “…be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”
