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(Presented by Lisa Bishop)
Are you a generous person?
Proverbs 11:24-25 tells us, “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
Be generous, your world expands. Be stingy, your world shrinks. Bless others and be blessed, help others and receive help.”
It’s the concept of reaping and sowing.
God challenges us to be generous because he wants us to receive the blessing that comes from it. We are generous because God is generous. Generosity is really a mindset. It’s an attitude of heart, a way of being, a lifestyle from which your thoughts, words and your actions flow.
In Luke 6:38 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.”
When you are generous it flows from a faith and trust in God’s provision and his generosity towards you. When you are being generous you push past the barriers of your comfort zone and go above and beyond, whether you are giving of your time, your service, your hospitality, your financial resources. You don’t live from fear of not having enough.
Our culture today feeds our individualistic and consumer mindset and tries to get us to believe that we always need more, we will never have enough; and that can keep us gripping tightly to what we do have. As followers of Jesus, we live in light of biblical principles and God’s economy and from the truth that we have a generous God who calls us to imitate him.
Where have you been stingy? How have you been holding back? How is God calling you to live a lifestyle of generosity?
What are the serving needs in your church and how can you be generous with your time? How can you generously give of your financial resources to support ministries in and outside of the church? Who is a friend, family member, or neighbor that has a need you can graciously meet?
Remember that God will supply all of your needs and that you get to be the hands and feet of Jesus by supplying the needs of others. So, let’s be like Jesus and live generously.
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