You can get this great devotional guide on generous living right here from Brian Kluth.
You can see the previous post on generosity right here Generosity: God is the owner of everything.
Randy Alcorn, author of “The Treasure Principle” says, “As thunder followed lightning, giving follows grace. When God’s grace touches you, you can’t help but respond with generous giving.”
Generosity is a hallmark of people who’ve received God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Stinginess is sin. Spending ourselves into a place that make generous giving impossible is sin.
God is the standard of generosity. He created and gave the earth to humans to steward. He gave his people abundance time and time again to preserve them in spite of their rebellion. Finally, he gave his one and only Son to bear the wrath of sin that we who have repented and believed by grace through faith could be made rich with Christ.
Who are we to hoard? Who are we to live beyond our means? This is hard in a land of abundance where the temptation is to get and get and get and get and forget who gave it to us and our joy in being a conduit to give rather than a cul-de-sac to hoard.
Just so we have the right doctrinal perspective on how we got what we got, let’s let the inerrant Word speak:
James 1:17 (ESV) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Ephesians 1:3 (ESV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
Matthew 7:11 (ESV) If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
2 Chronicles 1:11-12 (ESV) God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king, 12 wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.”
Proverbs 8:18-21 (ESV) Riches and honor are with me,
enduring wealth and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold,
and my yield than choice silver.
20 I walk in the way of righteousness,
in the paths of justice,
21 granting an inheritance to those who love me,
and filling their treasuries.
Isaiah 26:12 (ESV) O Lord, you will ordain peace for us,
for you have indeed done for us all our works.
The truth is, we have nothing God didn’t give to us, and there is nothing we have been given that we own. God is giver and provider! We are managers of God’s varied grace, and we should be the most generous and giving people in the world.
If you are a church member, give to your local church God’s abundance. It’s his anyway. He’ll get it back one way or the other. We might as well give it and receive more back so we can give more next time than have the Lord train us for godliness by taking it forcefully.
Stewardship is an issue that church needs to face. When I say the church, I mean the people who make up the church and the leadership of God’s people in how we use his resources. To whom much is given much is expected.
Are we giving generously as families and individuals?
Are we doing the vision and mission of Jesus with his resources?
Let’s strive to give God glory for being the giver of all our good, and do so by giving to his ends.
Theology in the Dirt 