“If you cannot be trusted with this wicked wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? And if you cannot be trusted with what belongs to someone else, who will give you something that will be your own? You cannot be the slave of two masters. You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than to the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Luke 16:11-13 (CEV) Faithful people are generous, even when they don’t have anything to give. Anybody can be generous when they have a surplus. You can be generous with your time when you’ve got a lot of extra time. You can be generous with your money when you’ve got a lot of extra money. You can be generous with your energy when you’ve got extra energy to spend. It’s when you don’t have enough time for yourself, you don’t have enough energy for yourself, you don’t have enough money for yourself, you don’t have enough talent for yourself that God says, “This is a test. I’m watching you to see if you are generous. Will you be faithful, and will you trust me?” Here are five principles in which God will test you and then bless you: 1. God gives to generous people. God wants you to be generous, because he wants you to be like him. And obeying him will bring his blessing. 2. Obeying God’s vision will bring God’s provision. If you do what God tells you to do, then God will bring along the resources you need at the right time. What he’s given you the vision for he will give you the provision for. 3. When you do all that God tells you to do, he does what you can’t do. God often asks you to do the impossible to stretch your faith. When you give what little you have, God multiples it and makes up for it. 4. When you have a need, you sow a seed. Whatever you need in your life, sow that as a seed, and it will come back to you. 5. There’s always a delay between sowing and reaping. There is a season between planting and harvesting. What’s going on in the delay? It’s a test of your faith. Will you be faithful to give when you have little? Will you keep on doing the right thing? Will you do what God wants you to do, no matter the cost? When you are faithful in this, you will be amazed at how God will provide for you and work in you.
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“God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others.”
2 Corinthians 9:8 (TLB) I heard a story about a man who took his son to McDonald’s and bought him super-size French fries. On the way home, he reached over and took one little French fry and ate it. His son got upset and said, “Dad, you can’t have that. These are my fries!” The dad immediately had three thoughts: “First, my child has forgotten that I am the source of all fries. I took him to McDonald’s, I paid for the order, I gave them to him, and I’m driving him back home. The only reason he got any fries was because of me, the Great Fry Giver! “Second, my child doesn’t realize I could take the fries away in a second if I wanted to. Or I could buy him an entire truckload of fries if I wanted to, because I have the power to do either. “Third, I didn’t need his fries. I could easily get my own. I could buy myself a hundred cartons of them if I wanted to. I just wanted him to learn to be unselfish.” Those three lessons are the same ones God wants you to learn so that you can be generous with other people. First, God wants you to remember that he is the source of everything you’ve got. You would have nothing—you wouldn’t even be alive!—if it weren’t for God. Second, God could take it all away from you in an instant, or he could double it, because he’s got the power. Third, God doesn’t need your money. He just wants you to learn to be unselfish and develop your faith. What happens when you start becoming a more generous person? “God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others” (2 Corinthians 9:8 TLB). If you will practice generosity, God will give you everything you need plus more so you’ll have enough to share with other people. He’s looking for a channel like a straw, and when he finds it—someone who’s willing to say, “God, use me to be a blessing to other people”—he just starts pouring blessing straight through it. If you will learn to be generous, God will bless you more than you can imagine! “If you are really eager to give, then it isn’t important how much you have to give. God wants you to give what you have, not what you haven’t.”
2 Corinthians 8:12 (TLB) Generosity is about far more than giving money. It’s about living generously in every area of your life. The Bible says this about generosity: “You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion” (2 Corinthians 9:11 NIV). What does it look like to “be generous on every occasion”? It means being generous with your time, praise, sympathy, forgiveness, love, compliments, and kindness. It means being generous with your listening so that you can seek to understand others. And it means being generous with your attention so that you can be aware of the needs of people. But God isn’t interested in how much you give in life. He cares about why you give and how you give. He cares about your motivation—your heart. That’s the difference between normal generosity and radical generosity. Radical generosity is an attitude, not an amount. The Bible says it this way: “If you are really eager to give, then it isn’t important how much you have to give. God wants you to give what you have, not what you haven’t” (2 Corinthians 8:12 TLB). God doesn’t need your money, talent, or time. In truth, he really doesn’t need anything from you. But what he wants from you is your heart. What he wants is your love. The Bible says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21 NIV). When you give your life to Christ, your heart will be with him. No matter what you do or what you give, it’s important to check your motivation. Why? Because God wants you to “do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17 NIV). He wants you to be radically generous. “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”
Philippians 2:4-5 (NLT) Every time you show generosity out of a loving heart, you strengthen your faith and become more like Jesus. That’s because every time you’re generous, a change takes place in you. Every time you give, your heart moves another notch up the dial toward God. You become more loving. You become more like Jesus. Philippians 1:11 says, “May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God” (NLT). God wants you to learn that you can give without loving—but you cannot love without giving. You say, “I really love my kids!” But do you give them your time? You say, “I really love my wife.” But do you give her your attention? This is what love is all about. You become more loving—and, therefore, more like Jesus—when you become more generous. What we’re talking about here is extremely countercultural. Society does not tell you to give; our culture constantly tells you to get. It’s an “all about me” world—me, my stuff, my needs—me, me, me. But when you’re generous, it takes the focus off you so you can think about others. Philippians 2:4-5 says, “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (NLT). Showing generosity also strengthens your faith. When you use your resources to help others, instead of using them on yourself, you have to depend on God to help you. When you choose to help a friend who’s having a tough time paying his bills, you have to learn to trust God to provide for you. When you use your time to help your neighbor, you have to trust God to make it work so you can get your stuff done too. Your faith is strengthened when you depend on God in those situations and trust him. Philippians 4:6 says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (NLT). “God blesses those who are kind to the poor. He helps them out of their troubles. He protects them and keeps them alive; he publicly honors them and destroys the power of their enemies” (Psalm 41:1-2 TLB).
Some people are like reservoirs. They collect God’s blessings but then hoard them. Other people are like a straw. They say, “God, help other people through me.” A critical spiritual lesson is that God gives you far more blessings when you’re a straw than when you’re a reservoir. If you want God to bless you, bless others—particularly the most vulnerable in our society. The Bible says, “God blesses those who are kind to the poor. He helps them out of their troubles. He protects them and keeps them alive; he publicly honors them and destroys the power of their enemies” (Psalm 41:1-2 TLB). God makes many amazing promises to those who give to the poor, but here’s one that might be a favorite. The Bible says in Proverbs 19:17, “If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord—and he will repay you!” (NLT). God considers it a loan to him every time you give to the poor. It’s not a gift; it’s a loan. And God promises that he will always pay you back. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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