Quotes from Miroslav Volf in his book “Free of Charge”

“To live in sync with who we really are means to recognize that we are dependent on God for our very breath and are graced with many good things; it means to be grateful to the giver and attentive to the purpose for which the gifts are given”

Volf suggests that God’s gifts to us obliges us to four things. The first two are faith and gratitude because God is a giver. The second two are availability and participation, so that we can give to others, which is the purpose for which God gives to us.

FAITH “We see ourselves as who we truly are, namely, receivers and receivers only. We do that by relating to God in faith, faith is not something that we give to God, it is the way we receivers relate appropriately to God as the giver. It is empty hands held open for God to fill, to receive from God in faith is the height of human dignity. Faith celebrates what we most properly are – God’s empowered creatures – and it frees us from our greatest accomplishments. Faith is the expression of the fact that we exist so that the infinite God can dwell in us and work through us for the well-being of the whole creation. Faith is the first part of the bridge from self-centeredness to generosity.”

GRATITUDE “Those who thank God tell the divine Giver that they appreciate the gifts received: they honor God for that. I recognize and honor God as the giver, and I implicitly recognize and affirm myself as the recipient of God’s gifts. Faith receives God’s gifts as gifts, gratitude receives them well. God’s gifts establish. They come with the message, “You are loved, and therefore you exist.” With that message, gratitude becomes easy because its not primarily gratitude for getting what we lacked and could have acquired by ourselves if we were not so insignificant, but gratitude for the wonder of just being there as fruits of God’s creativity and objects of God’s blessing.

AVAILABILITY “We live and breathe and have our being in God. The most we can do is to make ourselves available for God to be used as instruments. We give ourselves for God’s use to benefit creation, not to benefit God. What does this availability mean for us? It means that we don’t live in this world as we see fit, but are willing to be and act in the world as we see God being and acting. God provides the model, and we are ready to observe and imitate. God’s setting of purposes and providing the model for us are external aspects of a much more intimate relation between God and human beings. God is closer to us than we are to ourselves. God’s main way of relating to us is to indwell us and to work through us.”

PARTICIPATION “We were created to be and to act like God. Giving to others is the very purpose for which God gave us the gifts. It is not just that Christ sends the goods to flow into us, Christ makes the goods flow from us as well, truly indwelling, motivating and acting through us. God enters the very core of ourselves, the place from which we direct our will. Christ doesn’t circumvent our will, we don’t give apart from our will, we are no lifeless tools in Christ’s hand. We are not reluctant and grumbling servants of Christ. We are cheerful participants in Christ’s giving to the world. When loving truly, the self moves outside of itself to dwell with God and neighbour, and only then it is truly at home. When this happens, we have crossed over from self centeredness to genuine and fulfilling generosity.”