“But since you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” 2 Corinthians 8:7
Generosity is love in action, and love is measured in giving, not taking.
Life is most enjoyed when we give ourselves away. Generous people give more than their things; they genuinely give themselves. In the most marvelous of ways, those who give most freely live most freely.
Generosity is the overflow of love. Love not only expands our heart, but it increases our capacity to give of ourselves. Jesus reminds us, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” [John 15:13]. The apex of generosity is sacrifice. Generosity isn’t about how much we give but how much it costs us. Generosity isn’t about counting what you’ve given in comparison to someone else. Generosity is about being free. The generous are free from the things of this world. While they own possessions, their possessions don’t own them. Their agenda is to contribute. They are investors, not consumers.
Generosity flows in so many directions. Few investments are as important as our time, and we can never overestimate the importance of being generous with praise. Generosity creates an environment for emotional health. The Scriptures remind us that the greedy stir up dissension [Proverbs 28:25], while the generous foster wholeness. Generosity is motivated by love, but greed is fueled by lust. Greed is narcissistic; generosity is Christ-like. Greed is a product of self-love; generosity is the product of selfless love. The greatest application of generosity is not financial but relational. Do we treat people as objects to be used or as gifts to be treasured?
Jesus was history’s true incurable romantic. His life and death are the standard by which all romance should be measured. His was an act of unconditional love; His life, the greatest love story ever told. To want to take is not romantic; to long to give, that’s romance. Every writer whose retelling found its way into the pages of Scripture tells the story of Jesus as God’s ultimate act of love. With love as God’s motive, it should not surprise us that the events of Jesus’ life culminated in His ultimate sacrifice. It also should not surprise us that God, who is love, acts with such immeasurable generosity.
Even one wasted life is a tragedy to God. God’s intention is to move us out of the paralysis of existence and bring us into a life that is productive and meaningful. We receive God’s grace because He is gracious. All who enter the kingdom of heaven must be certain of one thing: Admission is a gift. When you understand the generosity of God, you know that God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but in fact finds pleasure when they turn from their ways and live [Ezekiel 18:23; 2 Peter 3:9]. We can choose to hold God’s generosity against Him, or we can receive the abundance of the life He offers.
God loves to pour His gifts upon His children. The Scriptures are resplendent with promises of blessing from God to His people [2 Peter 1:17]. When we live in a proper relationship with God, it has a dramatic effect on every area of our lives. The Scriptures tell us that God desires to bless our relationships, our marriages, our children, our work, our finances and our very lives.
The more good we do, the more good we are able to do. Generosity increases our capacity to bless others. When generosity is unleashed, it flows to every area of our lives. We become generous not only with our money but also with our time, effort, gifts, talents, passions, every part of us. When we choose to live generously, we can know that we “will be made rich in every way so that [we] can be generous on every occasion” [2 Corinthians 9:11].
There’s nothing wrong with having wealth. God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. God wants us to enjoy our lives. He finds pleasure in our pleasure. Jesus did not call His disciples to reject a life of affluence and embrace a life of poverty. He simply called them to follow Him, to reject a life of greed and embrace a life of generosity. God will hold us accountable not just for the gifts we use, but also for those we neglect. When we embrace prosperity as a gift from God entrusted to us for the good of many, we are laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven, not born out of greed, but born out of the very heart of God.
The generous see themselves as stewards of God’s treasures. They are not cautious in giving themselves away, for God Himself is their source of replenishment. They understand everything to be the Lord’s and thus are free to give without reservation. It is not that they give carelessly or without thoughtfulness, nor is it that they give without consideration of need. They are the contributors of life. They are the true investors in the human spirit. Wherever they are, there is more. They never leave a place or relationship having taken more than they have given. Yet somehow they never leave empty. In giving, they find themselves enriched. They are anomalies in the human economy.
The takers of this world always need more. They are always hungry, always craving. The givers are inexplicably full. Those who refuse to believe in God’s economy never understand the endless flow of their resources. The takers are always looking for happiness, convinced somehow that the next thing they grab will somehow be their source of joy.
The giver is always open-handed, yet never empty-handed. The generous have found the secret to happiness. They have found the joy of living through serving others. When we become generous, we become like God. Every creative act of God is created not out of selfishness or self-indulgence, but out of His generosity. We demean the nature of our God-given creativity when we use it for anything beneath His character. Creativity and generosity are to be identical sisters, always expressing and resulting in a work of beauty. Greed and ungratefulness caustically make nothing out of something; generosity and gratitude creatively make something out of nothing [see Ephesians 4:28].
Grace is never less than the law. Grace is not freedom to live beneath the law, but to live beyond the law.
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