Christians are called to be generous. We are not to be miserly or stingy, but we are called to give freely to others. When we are generous, we reflect the nature of God, who is generous with us.
Generosity leads to supernatural results.
“There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, But it leads to poverty” (Proverbs 11:24).
According to this verse, the person who gives generously will end up with more, but the person who does not give will end up with less.
This is different from the laws of mathematics. Math says that if you give things away, you will have fewer things. But God says, if you give away things, you will end up with more things. Math says that if you don’t give anything away, you will have the same amount you started with. But God says, if you don’t give anything away, you will end up with less.
God’s economy may not seem to make rational sense, but it leads to abundance. The ways of the world may seem to make more rational sense, but they lead to poverty. God wants us to live above the limitations of natural laws and the confines of mathematics. This is possible when we walk in the Spirit.
This is not only about money. We can be generous with money (and we should be), but we should also be generous with time, energy, possessions, etc. When we are generous with these things according to God, we will increase.
Spirit-led generosity leads to abundance. This is a supernatural principle that operates by God’s power. Christians are called to tap into divine principles like this by living according to God’s word. When we obey God, we will tap into these heavenly principles, and then we will be blessed.
Jesus wanted to feed a crowd of people, but there were only 7 loaves and a few fish. The disciples knew this wasn’t nearly enough for the crowd, for they were operating on the basis of earthly mathematics. But Jesus was above these earthly laws because he was walking by the Spirit. Jesus broke the loaves and the fish and gave them to his disciples and told them to place the food before the people. They fed thousands of people and had several baskets of food left over. 7 loaves and a few fish were transformed into thousands of loaves and fish by the act of generosity. The laws of the Spirit realm are greater than the laws of the natural realm.
Jesus calls us to be generous. He says, “give, and it shall be given to you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over shall they give to you” (Luke 6:38). Generosity leads to miracles. Abundance will come into our lives when we are generous. As we give, it will be given to us. God WILL give to us, for he will be a debtor to no man. Whatever we give in obedience to God, we are giving to God, and he will repay us abundantly.
The New Testament says that if we sow sparingly, we will reap sparingly; but if we sow bountifully, we will reap bountifully (2 Cor. 9:6). If we have some seed but never sow it in the ground, the seed may get spoiled and we may end up with nothing. However, if we sow a seed in the ground, we will end up with many more seeds.
God gives seed to the sower (2 Cor. 9:10). The sower is a person who is sowing seed. God does not say he will give seed to the hoarder. If we want more seed, we need to sow the seed. God says he will multiply the seed that is sown. No multiplication will happen if the seed is not sown; that will only lead to loss. Something supernatural happens with generosity, and we are called to tap into that as Christians.
Generosity does not come naturally. Most people want to keep things for themselves. They follow Satan, who is not a generous person. Satan wants to take things, he doesn’t want to give. The devil comes to steal (take things), kill (take life), and destroy (ruin stuff).
God comes to give abundant life. Real generosity comes from God. We will learn true generosity from God because God is very generous.
God gave us his only Son, the most valuable person in the Universe. If God gave us Jesus, he will give us all things (Romans 8:32). The death of Jesus on the cross is a promise that God will take care of us. If he gave us Jesus, why would he not give us whatever else we need? We can trust him. “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
God promises to give us material things (Matthew 6:33) as long as we seek first his kingdom and righteousness. God also promises to give us spiritual things. He gives us salvation, righteousness, the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and eternal life. These are the things we really need. The material stuff is passing away, but the spiritual things will remain forever. This is true wealth. It’s treasure in heaven.
God gives generously, without reproaching (James 1:5). God doesn’t blame us when he gives to us. He doesn’t tell us that we don’t really deserve things because we have so many problems. He doesn’t give grudgingly, blaming us for the problems he has to bail us out of. God gives freely, without any strings attached. We don’t do anything to earn these things or become worthy of the abundance that God gives to us. We don’t receive things from God by work, we receive it by grace.
Generosity comes from agape love. Agape love is not based on exchanging love for something in return. Agape love is able to love the other person, regardless of who they are or what they have done. This is why agape can even love enemies. Enemies do many terrible things to us, but Jesus says we should still love our enemies. Agape can do good to those who hate us. Agape can cause us to overcome evil with good. We can bless those who curse us. Agape love is ultimate generosity, and it is the source of true generosity.
Jesus said we should do to others as we want them to do to us (Luke 6:31-36). Agape love is proactive rather than reactive. Agape leads the way. It gives first. It reaches out. It gives before the other person is worthy of the gift.
“By this we know love, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). God hates sin. But even when we were enemies of God and doing many bad things, God loved us (Romans 5:10). When we were enemies of God, he sent his Son to die for us, giving us the most precious gift. This is how we know agape love.
Generosity is the basic gospel message. God so loved the world that he GAVE his Son. We have freely received from God, we are called to freely give (Matthew 10:8). There are no strings attached to God’s love for us, and we should have no strings attached to our love for others.
Finally, generosity is connected to a good eye, which is the opposite of an evil eye. When we have a good eye, we look generously and kindly toward others. A generous eye is simple and uncomplicated. It doesn’t have a hidden agenda. It is not wrongly suspicious or jealous of others. It gives freely.
On the other hand, an evil eye is wrongfully complex. It has hidden agendas. It is jealous and hateful. It is ungenerous. It wants to take from others and tear them down. Jesus said ungenerous people have an evil eye (Matthew 20:15).
Generosity is a basic principle of Christianity. Generosity is supernatural and causes supernatural things to happen in our lives. If we believe that, we will be generous so we can receive these blessings from God. But if we don’t believe that, we won’t be generous. May God help us to walk in generosity.
by Peter
Lincoln House Churches 