Generosity

We're in the middle of a series at our church called, "God, you want me to Do What?"  Last week's message was entitled "Be Sacrificial" (meaning with your time), and this week's was entitled "Be Generous."  I know a lot of people probably cringe at a title like this, knowing the money talk is coming.  We've all been at churches that bring up money so often that it just turns you off and makes you not even want to give.  But this is one of the many things I love about our church.  Although God commands us to give, the benefit is for us, not him.  God doesn't need our money, but we need to give. 

Early in our marriage Jeremy set the precedent that we would give 10% of our income to the church.  I'll admit I wasn't totally on board at first, but I trusted that if he felt it was important, I would go along with it.  God has not disappointed us.  Luke 6:38 says, "Give and it will be given back to you, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together will be poured into your lap."  Proverbs 11:24-25 says, "One man gives freely and he gains even more.  But another man withholds unjustly, and he comes to poverty.  A generous man will himself be blessed."

We have certainly been blessed.  God has always provided for us.  Sometimes not in abundance but always enough, just what we needed at that time.  And the blessings aren't always financial ones, but also relationally and spiritually.  We have two beautiful girls, great extended families, food in our fridge, a warm house, two cars that run (not the latest model, but they're paid for), an amazing church, and the best friends in the world. 

Now I'm not saying that if you give generously your life is going to be perfect.  It's not.  We all have hard times.  But I do know that if you give in the midst of good and bad circumstances, God will bless you.  It may be in ways that aren't as obvious, but look for the blessings that are all around you.  Speaking of blessings, we sang a new song at church tonight -- 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) by Matt Redman.  Click the play button to the right if you'd like to listen to it.  Our worship pastor asked, "What does it mean to bless the Lord?  It really just means to thank him."  I truly believe that a life full of joy comes from a heart of gratitude.  Thank God throughout the day for all he's given you.  Little things will happen throughout my day, even minor things like finding something I've been missing, and I just quietly say, Thank you, God!  Focus on what he's given you rather than what you wish you had.  Easier said than done, I know. 

Anyway, back to the idea of generosity.  Maybe you are thinking, 'You know, we honestly can't afford to give at all.  We are barely making ends meet and all our money is spoken for each month.'  I'm not sure what to tell you except to just step out in faith and test God.  Start small and see what God does.  I love this verse in Malachi:  "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.  Test me in this, says the Lord, and see if I won't throw open heaven's doors and pour out so much blessing that you won't have room for it."  (Malachi 3:10).  Did I mention that I love this verse?  It's like God is challenging us, JUST TRY ME!  He has so many good things he wants to give us, if we would only obey him and share our life with him. 

As most of you know our paychecks vary from month to month.  Some months are good, some months are bad.  Some months we have more than enough, some months we can barely pay our bills.  And my job has basically been non-existent for the past several months so that hasn't helped.  However, we have continued to give the amount we decided on beforehand, even in the bad months.  Speaking of bad months, this month was one of those.  But the first bill we paid was the online giving to our church.  If we would've waited until everything else was paid, I know we would've made excuses and it just wouldn't have happened.  But we've learned that God comes first (it's really all his anyway, isn't it?)  Well, a couple neat and unexpected things happened in the following week.  First of all, a guy from my log job calls and said, 'You know, we never paid you for that paperwork you did for us several months ago.'  He asked what I thought would be fair, and I said, 'Well, it took me about 4 hours, so how about $80?'  (At this point I had kind of figured they'd forgotten about it, and had put it out of my mind.)  He said, 'How about I send you a check for $200?'  Wow, totally unexpected.  Then a few days later Jeremy calls and said he had gotten a bonus at work, and that would cover the rest of our bills.  Another wow, a much bigger one.  I can't even recall how many times things like this have happened in our 11 years of marriage.

We just finished the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan with our small group, and here's one of our favorite lines from it:  “But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through.”  I don't think the context of this quote was generosity, but it fits perfectly.  Where God's power isn't needed, God's power doesn't show up.  Why not step out in faith, and see if God doesn't open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing on you that you are just amazed and overwhelmed at his goodness? 


So in what ways has God blessed you because of your generosity?  I'd love to hear some stories! 
 
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."  Matthew 6:33