GodReflection: Power Word Wednesday

Jesus taught generosity by his walk and by his parables.

I was born into a generous family. I don’t suppose I thought much about it during my growth years. I knew two things. My parents lived as committed God followers and we had only minimal money.

I find it incredible that the lack of money didn’t seem to be a big deal. Nor did it seem to affect my parent’s generosity. Our table was always open to guests and mom always made sure hurting people had a home baked pie.

Anything my dad owned he was willing to loan to anyone who asked. As a carpenter, he made repairs at our church building, fixed doors, windows, locks, and a variety of items for others just because he saw a need.

Every Sunday my mom handed him a check to place in his coat pocket. It was for God.

Spending the majority of my adult life in church related work in other countries and a former CEO of a non-profit entity, I witnessed close up many wonderful acts of generosity.

Here is what I think.

To imitate the heart of Jesus is to be generous. I’m still working on this one.

The generous gene comes from God the giver of all. Those with the spiritual gift of generosity excel in their use of the generous gene.

God desires that I grow in generosity. It is within my power to transform my gene into a dominant gene or a recessive one.

I see two reasons God wants me to be generous.

First—and foremost—God wants to see just how much I trust Him. It takes giving beyond my comfort zone to place my trust in God’s care. God has always required prized lambs that I am tempted to keep to build my flock.

I cringe in the assemblies of churches when I hear giving degraded to no more than an announcement: “this is a convenient time to give to take care of the needs we have at our church.” A worshipful gift has little to do with paying the electric bill.

A worshipful gift is a prayerfully introspective present to the Creator to show how much I trust Him.

Second, I am place on earth to be generous to others.

That means each day I fire up my radar screen to flash before me blimps of opportunity. I am to use generously my skill set, my attitude, and my resources to bless others.

I can give with my hands, feet, ears, and heart. I can generously offer my neighbor a tool to make a task easier. I can fix brokenness. I can generously listen to someone who needs an unhurried ear.

I can place joy in the face of a little girl with a purchase of Girl Scout Cookies and a kind word. Generosity can accompany me to a restaurant as I treat the wait staff and give more than a minimal tip regardless of the service—good or bad.

Generosity is to create big eyes delight at a lemonade stand of a little tyke when you pay with a twenty dollar bill and purposefully walk away expecting no change.

God gives grace, Spirit gives life, and Jesus gives himself. Paul reminds me to be generous on every occasion. Jesus tells me that God gives today my daily bread.

God gives me all so I give from my all.

That should transform generous into a power word in my daily walk, don’t you think?

Stay tuned.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – A GodReflection on God’s Power of Generosity.

Gary@Godreflection.org     www.MakeYourVisionGoViral.com