As disciples of Jesus, we become more like Jesus and grow our faith by practicing generosity. The Apostle Paul writes,
Jesus models a life of generosity for his disciples. Jesus was generous with every aspect of his life and invites us to do the same. It is by his grace—his giving of his life for our sake—that we are saved, and the natural response to Jesus’ grace should be to imitate him with generous acts of our own.
Generous living is about more than finances; it means seeing our time, talents, and treasures as gifts God gave us for a reason. To live generously is to believe God has given you everything you need, and enough to share; it means moving from a scarcity mindset to a generosity mindset. In 2 Corinthians, Paul describes this change in mindset as follows:
Generosity is one of God’s solutions to greed because it means choosing to share what we have with those in need and trusting God to provide for us when we have needs of our own, often through the generosity of others.
At its heart, a generous lifestyle expresses thanks to God for what he has done through Jesus and allows us to share his love with others.
Practical Ways to Be Generous
A simple way to begin being generous is to take stock of what God has given you and decide what percentage you will freely and cheerfully give back to him. Then, in a few months, evaluate how you are doing and whether you can trust God by being even more generous and increasing the percentage. For example:
Time
There are 168 hours in a week. We typically spend 8 hours a day sleeping and 8 hours a day working, leaving roughly 56 hours a week for eating, watching TV, working out, hanging out with friends, and leisure. What percentage of time could you generously give to serving others either at church or in the community?
Talents
Each of us has talents and gifts that equip us to serve in ways others may not. The Apostle Peter writes, “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another” (1 Peter 4:10 NLT). Sometimes we use those talents and gifts at work, and sometimes we reserve them for our hobbies. What is one talent or gift you have that you could use to help someone else or the church? If you aren’t sure what your gifts and talents are, talk with a friend or one of our pastors.
Treasure
Each of us has money we earn at work or receive from others. What if you chose to be generous by giving a percentage of what you receive each week to help the poor or support the church’s work? Throughout Scripture, God’s people gave the first 10% of what they received to God as a tithe, and many Christians still use it as a starting point. For some, that amount is challenging. The key is to give what God puts on your heart. As Paul writes, “Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have” (2 Corinthians 8:12 NLT).
Ask Jesus what he would like you to do with your time, talent and treasure, and then be generous as he leads. See if the promise of 2 Corinthians 9:8 is true: that God will generously provide all you need, with plenty left over to share with others.
If you’d like to begin being generous with your treasure, use the button below to visit our Give page.