How Paying Attention Becomes an Act of Service

TobyMac on why clear is kind

What happens when you refuse to hold on too tightly to people, plans, or control?

Singer, rapper, and songwriter TobyMac’s intentionality starts with paying attention, which can seem like something small. “I wanted to put myself in the perspective of the people that were listening to me,” he says. “I wanted to think about what their day looks like, what they have to walk through.”

For TobyMac, that attention shows up in ordinary, everyday moments. “Intention to me is waking up and deciding that I’m going to open up God’s Word, and then trying to walk that out throughout the day, whether it’s being patient with someone or whether it’s being honest with someone,” he says. His wife has a phrase for what that looks like in practice: “Clear is kind. Be clear.”

That attentiveness carries into how he holds everything else, including what he’s willing to give up. “I’ve never out-given God,” he says. “Truly. There’s never been anything that I’ve given up that I didn’t receive more from giving that up.”

Open-Handed

TobyMac traces this back to something he watched Bill Gaither do for years: “You’re supposed to be open-handed and watch those people fly.” He’s seen the same thing hold true in his own finances. “Same with finances,” he says. “Any time I’ve sacrificed—any time—literally every time, God has done something beyond , above and beyond my expectations. He’s kind that way.”

Some call that luck. TobyMac calls it something else. “People get to go, ‘Oh, that’s karma.’” He says, “I’m like, ‘No, it’s not karma. That’s just God.’ I’m good.”

Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38 NIV).

Maybe there’s something you’re gripping tightly right now—a plan, a person, an outcome you can’t control. TobyMac is convinced that letting go isn’t loss. It’s the doorway to a blessing you never saw coming.

Want to go deeper?

A Life That Speaks: Serving Others with the Story You Live—a free 5-day devotional on YouVersion—walks you through five scripture images (a lamp, salt, a mustard seed, an alabaster jar, a harvest field) to help you see that the ordinary, faithful things you give are seeds God is already tending toward a harvest.
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