From
Abel to Malachi in the Old Testament and from Matthew to Revelation
in the New Testament Scripture talks about generosity.
When
the pastor preaches about giving or the church offers a class like
Financial Peace University, the assumption is often that God is after
your hard-earned cash. But scripture teaches the exact opposite of
this. In reality, God owns it all and it is a bit presumptuous to
assume that he needs our money at all.
If
the purpose of generosity isn't because God needs our money. Why does
God ask us to be generous?
The
reason we are compelled to be generous is because giving is good for
the believer. God knows that giving makes us a better person, We are
made in his image and part of being God's image bearers is to be
generous.
The
discipline of giving over a lifetime can transform us and our outlook
on life. There was a survey given recently where the survey question
asked, "What was the most memorable act of giving in your life."
The 60-70 year old respondents typically spoke about giving steadily
to their church or a missionary or some other cause that they
believed in. The 40-50 year olds talked about a one-time gift they
had given to someone. The 20-30 year olds spoke about something that
had been given to them. I share these survey results to point out
that steady giving over a lifetime changes our perspective in quite
startling ways.
A
researcher looked at the correlation between generosity and divorce
and found that the most generous people had very low divorce rates.
The man and woman who were willing to give to the poor, or their
church, or a mission was also more successful in their marriage? This
attitude towards giving spilled over into their relationships and
especially in their marriage. This same researcher found that
generous people also made better parents, employees, employers,
neighbors, etc.
From
a spiritual standpoint, the Holy Spirit is the prompter or instigator
of our generosity. In the Old Testament, I really like the passage
where the nation of Israel had been commanded to build the
temple. Exodus
35:21 "And
they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose
spirit moved him, and brought the Lord's contribution to be used for
the tent of meeting, and for its service, and for the holy garments."
Read this verse carefully, it says, "they came, everyone whose
heart stirred him,
and everyone whose
spirit moved him."
This is talking about the Holy Spirit working in the congregation of
believers. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of generosity. This isn't
some weird emotional experience, but His conviction in the hearts of
believers to give!
The
New Testament confirms that the Holy Spirit, is a generous Spirit.
Titus
3:5-6 "For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient,
led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our
days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But
when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Savior appeared, he
saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but
according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and
renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through
Jesus Christ our Savior.
From
these verses, we see the role that the Holy Spirit plays in salvation
and he does the same with our generosity. Through the Holy
Spirit, we become generous in love, sympathy, concern, time, money,
and service.
As
with all spiritual disciplines, the Church needs to do its part in
teaching Biblical financial principles. But it is the work of the
Spirit, to bring our hearts to generosity for the work of the
Kingdom, just like it is his responsibility to bring us to
Salvation in Christ.
The
discipleship of generosity is a 'with me" experience of walking
along side our fellow believers and teaching what the Bible says
about our money and how to be generous with each area of our lives. I
love that ministry. It is such a natural discipleship process full of
wisdom, common Biblical sense, and spiritual transformation, with the
end result being peaceful and happy believers. We can teach
the principles of giving and the process of getting our financial
house in order so that we can give generously. We don't have to
twist anyone's arm or put pressure on them to give. We have seen
people start on the path to financial freedom, just taking the first
few baby steps, start to give with joy for the first time in their
adult lives. They love to give, because we are made in His image, and
because we respond to the Holy Spirit. As we give our perspective
changes, We become more like Christ.
So
the next time you have an opportunity to be generous remember that
the disciple of Christ needs to give. We give, not because God needs
our money, but because it makes us more like Him.
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