Generous Living

How generous are you? That’s really a question only we can answer about ourselves. I like to think that I’m generous and I love to give gifts and not just any gift, but the right gift. The one that will grab someone and make their day. I love that. I believe in paying my tithes and giving offerings (Mal 3:10). I love giving to charity and supporting people less fortunate (Prov 28:27).  It makes my heart glad to give. 

On the other hand, I’m not as generous with my time. I love my alone time. Don’t get me wrong. I love people and spending time with them, but my time is valuable to me. In some cases, I’d much rather give a gift than my time. 

So, I’m working to be more generous with my time and my talents. I have to remember they don’t belong to me (Deut 10:14). Just like God has blessed me to be able to bless others with gifts they will like, he also blessed me with time and talent to bless others (2 Cor 9:10-15). He wants all of me. And He wants me to give all of me away like Jesus did. I have to remember that. I’m to love my brother as I love myself. I’m to think of others before myself. 

Does that mean that I’m not to enjoy what I’ve worked so hard for? Absolutely not (1 Tim 6:17-18). But I always have to remember that I’m only a steward of God’s resources and while He wants me to be content and have joy, I’m also to help my brother or sister when they are in need (1 John 3:17). That doesn’t mean that I’m to step into His place and get into situations where He’s working something out of or into them. It means, I’m to listen to Him and move when He tells me to move, whether financially, physically, or prayerfully. 

While it’s sometimes difficult, it is God’s will that we are generous as He has been generous to us. We follow His example when we are generous givers. He has given us so much, it’s only right that we bless someone else (Heb 13:16). God loves us so much that Christ died for us (John 3:16). We are saved into the body of Christ. We are His hands and feet. If we say we are of Christ and we are not generous, do we not teach the world that Christ really isn’t generous (Prov 11:24-25)? We would be teaching a lie. Our lives wouldn’t be consistent with who God is. If we are of Christ, we have to reconcile ourselves with the fact that generosity must be part of our walk with Him. 

If Jesus is our standard, we need to line up with His sense of giving. Where are you on the scale? I know I have work to do. What about you?