There are many reasons that America’s Christians should dig deep and give big. Let’s begin, of course, with Jesus. He constantly pointed us toward service, compassion, servanthood, humility, and love…not to mention sacrificial generosity.

We Americans also have another reason: our country’s high value for human dignity. Borrowing from philosopher John Locke, Thomas Jefferson enshrined in the Declaration of Independence a bedrock commitment to human rights and individual dignity. That value, so pervasive in Jesus’ teachings and in America’s founding and also in Jesus’ teachings, impels us to intervene on behalf of the least, the last, and the lost around the world.

I thought of this when I recently read The Reason for God by Manhattan pastor Dr. Tim Keller. Keller cited a Singaporean official’s reaction to the caning of an American citizen caught vandalizing cars in Singapore: “To us in Asia, the individual is an ant. To you, he is a child of God. It is an amazing concept.” I was further reminded of my double mandate –as a Christian and as an American– when I read an excerpt in a report by World Vision, a Christian relief organization that is the largest private non-government organization in the world. It said, “Chldren are being exploited every day. We cannot look the other way while millions are robbed of their childhood innocence. Our faith–our conviction that all people are made in God’s image and that children in particular are precious in His sight — compels us to create a safer world for the next generation.”