“The quality of being kind and generous” that is the definition of generosity according to Google. But what is generosity? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as being “liberal in giving: openhanded” or “marked by abundance or ample proportions”. From that definition, it seems generosity is only spoken of when there is “abundance” or “ample proportions”. So when the giving is not “liberal”, that is free or out of compulsion, when it is not openhanded and when it is not abundant, it is not generosity. This was alarming and eye opening to me. I have always seen generosity or being generous as simply giving or being a giver but it is more than that, it is being a liberal giver who gives in abundance. The bible talks of generosity in similar terms: freedom, joy and abundance or overflow. Perhaps the best passage I have read on this topic of generosity is from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians where he praised the generosity of the Macedonian churches who despite being severely tested in affliction, “their overflowing joy and extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity” (2 Corinthians 8:1-2). Paul goes on to say that the Macedonian churches “gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability”. This reminded me of Jesus speaking to his disciples when he saw a poor widow give a small offering to God. He said that the poor widow gave more to God compared to others because she gave everything she had out of her poverty (Mark 12:44). This I believe is the kind of generosity that we Christians should emulate. We have to go the extra mile for if we only do what everyone does, there is no reward. Indeed, we are to be “perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:44). As I say this, I believe one important fact to not miss from that particular passage is that God gave grace to the Macedonian churches to be able to give in this manner. I personally believe that same grace is available and given to us as well. Today’s post will focus on the topic of giving biblically, not for personal gain but to the glory of God.
The main reason we give is simply to glorify God, just as the scripture says “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to be like Christ and to imitate him. As such, we must be givers like Christ was. He came into this world and freely gave us his body and his blood as a sacrifice for our sins in order to reconcile us with the Father. Not only that, He gave us his righteousness, he gave us fullness in him (Colossians 2:10), he made us to be elevated with him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1), he disarmed the powers and authorities that stood against us, he set us free from any bondage, he gave us new life, he gave us eternal life. Do you see the generosity of God in what Jesus did? Do you see how generous our Lord Jesus was and is to us? He was liberal in giving us all those things who change us from the inside out, his generosity overflowed and I believe that is why it was enough for the many people who would believe in his death and resurrection on the cross on their behalf. God is a generous God, as a matter of fact, he does not give us what our sins deserve, in His grace, he gives us His mercy. He is the God who is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is within us” (Ephesians 3:20). I am in awe of the largess of God! No wonder we have to emulate him! This world is crying for such generosity! We are His ambassadors on this earth and so giving should be the least of things we do, we should not even be reminded to give, it should be part of our daily habits. I know the concept of giving has been very much abused in the church today but may I remind you that it is a biblical concept? Some will argue that because there is freedom in how we give, we should not even give but I don’t see where this line of thinking aligns with the word of God. We live in a world where there are many opportunities to give because the needs are plenty. For many of us, when we hear giving, we automatically think about monetary giving but that is not the only type of giving that exists. It is true that in referencing the Macedonian churches, Paul was talking about most likely talking in terms of financial giving however, there are other things we can give such as resources, talents, comfort, time, help, etc.
In all their giving endeavours, the Macedonian churches did something that was remarkable and noteworthy: “they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us” (verse 5). The Macedonian churches show us that our giving must first flow from our giving of ourselves to the Lord. If you are giving to others without giving yourself to the Lord, then your giving will just be like the world’s giving for personal gain. When we give ourselves to the Lord, we submit to Him, we surrender to Him and we declare that He owns all that we have and however He would like us to give, we will. This is the fundamental difference between the way Christians give versus the way the world gives. When we give ourselves to the Lord, we are filled with freedom, the freedom that only Christ can give. This freedom allows us to do everything with joy because we are no longer in bondage to what we have, to what our hands can produce, or to what others might think of us whether good or bad. In Christ, we are new creatures whose sole purpose are to please their master. We become slaves of God, slaves to righteousness. It is quite interesting how this freedom in Christ translates in everything we do. I feel like the more I read my bible, the more I discover a little truth and understanding about what it means to surrender everything to the Lord, about what it means to be a slave to righteousness and to put the needs of others above my own. It truly must take us a lifetime to be able to understand the ways of God, He is infinite! I want to stress the fact that our giving must emulate that of the Father, it must honour God. We cannot give more than God, we cannot give in a manner that brings Him shame, we must give to please Him. Before we give, we must have been surrendering to God, we must recognize that even the desire to give comes from Him, the ability to give comes from Him and we are only vessels He uses to accomplish His purposes as Philippians says “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Nothing comes from us, everything comes from God. The moment we have surrendered our life to Christ and have accepted him as our Lord and saviour, we abdicated the throne of our life and gave it to Christ. We no longer rule, He does and that means how we give, what we give and when we give must be in total surrender to Christ. Thankfully, because of the freedom we have in Christ, our giving will look differently from one Christian to the other, the key here is that we are called to give freely, without coercion, just as Christ gave to us. My encouragement to you is to ask the Lord what resources you have not surrendered to Him and what He wants you to give for His glory. Seek the Lord with all your heart so He may reveal to you areas where you may not even be aware you should give. Is there a need around you that you can help solve? Why not pray about it and seek to resolve it, especially if it is a need your brother or sister is in?
As people of God, we ought to practice generosity first and foremost with our very own before extending it to others, the contrary would be hypocritical and we are not hypocrites! I have also come to understand that when we give, it means we also hold our possessions loosely, we do not put our identity on those possessions, I believe giving is the perfect way to show we have died to ourselves. May we be people who are more worried about giving glory to God in all we do than we are about giving glory to ourselves. Amen.
A Word Aptly Spoken 