The modern world has long been preaching that we "don't owe anybody anything." Advertisers are constantly barking, "Treat yourself," "Do what's right for you," and "Focus on yourself." We often find ourselves parroting these sayings, sometimes in jest. Yet, perhaps not fully realizing it, at other times, whatever our reasons, we follow them in full belief that we need to turn our eyes on ourselves. When we do this, our human nature, enjoying the self-centeredness it produces, influences us to neglect to recall our God-given directive to be joyful givers, no matter the context.

We find this directive in II Corinthians 9:6-7 (English Standard Version throughout), where the apostle Paul writes:

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

The world would have us believe that giving up our money, comfort, convenience, or enjoyment is terrible—that we should never compromise on the human quest to accumulate as much as possible during our short lifetimes. Society would argue that we are under no obligation to anybody. After all, they say, we should never neglect ourselves for another individual or responsibility. Our priority is to "take care of number one."

But are we givers at all if we only give at our convenience? The act of true, godly giving implies that someone is making a sacrifice in some way—and not necessarily monetarily, as our minds most often immediately think. The world has influenced us to think of giving in monetary terms, as various non-profit organizations press us to give money for the care of the poor, the sick, the disadvantaged, or the victims of disaster. Even the giving we do at the Feast of Tabernacles—taking families out to dinner or buying them some form of gift—we often understand in monetary terms.

However, there is a greater gift we can give, which the apostle John lays out I John 3:16-18:

By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

John clearly expresses the attitude God expects from us in our giving. Yet, he is oddly vague about what those gifts should be. When he mentions "this world's goods" in the verse, where do our minds immediately go? Money, of course. This exhortation certainly has a physical aspect, but what worldly good could we give that is even more valuable than money?

Our time.

Our time might be our most valuable good in this busy age. Every company, individual, and media source is waging a constant war to wrest away our interest, attention, and time, and we must carefully decide what we spend them on. We make constant choices in our days to "save time," or we take a day off so that particular twenty-four hours are not spent on our job—all to preserve the one thing many of us cherish the most on this earth.

So, when we see that a family or an acquaintance we do not know well wants to connect with us further by going out to dinner with us, we often shrink away. It will take valuable time away. We excuse ourselves by saying we cannot make it. We tell them we will have to check our schedule. We say we already have plans. These are habitual ways we have learned will preserve our treasured time for ourselves.

Perhaps we did not get to see the kids much this week. Maybe we are tired from overwork. All we may have wanted to do was go home and relax. So, we choose not to surrender any of our most precious of worldly goods. We choose ourselves. We choose not to be a cheerful giver, gladly parting with our time to fellowship and deepen the bonds among our spiritual family.

Jesus gives us a tough command in John 15:12-13: "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." It is evident that to fulfill what He asks of us, we must sacrifice something.

Sacrifice is not to be taken lightly, but most sacrifices are not as extreme as laying down one's life for a friend. In truth, many sacrifices that we think will be difficult we later consider well worth what we gave up, even enjoyable. When done right, such sacrifices teach us something spiritually valuable.

On his self-titled sports talk show, Pat McAfee always goes to a break with the same maxim, which perfectly illustrates how simple it can really be: "Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It just might change their life." Often, it may be as simple as sharing a kind word, stopping what we are doing and listening to a stranger's story, or asking a friend out for coffee. We will almost never be put in a position where we must give up everything to be a giver worthy of God.

But, when we realize what He gave for us, suddenly the idea of taking an hour out of our day to spend time with a brother does not seem quite as bad as before. Jesus says in John 3:16-17:

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

God does not ask us to sacrifice our firstborn to show love toward our neighbor. All He asks is that we give up a little bit of our time when someone is in need.