Generosity is one of the hallmarks of the Christian life and this is not surprising as it belongs to the attributes of God. Generosity is love in action “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son”. You cannot love and not be generous. You can be generous without loving but you cannot love without being generous. Generosity does not only involve giving money. It also involves giving your time, and using your talent and gifts to honour God. God’s generosity is recorded in the Scriptures beginning in Genesis. At Creation, God created everything that man would need to live a perfect life before creating man. When Satan deceived Adam and Eve to doubt and disobey God, they died spiritually and became separated from God. Separation from their source of life cost them the image and likeness of God and the loss of their authority and dominion over God’s creation. God so loved the world that He could not see man in his fallen sinful state. He gave His only Son, who shed His blood on the cross, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin and through it provided all our need for our new life of faith. Our only response to God’s love and generosity is to believe in Jesus Christ and honour God through our love, obedience, integrity, humility and generosity.
Generosity honours God and speaks of our love for Him and our trust in His promises. A frequently asked question in life is who can I trust? This is simply because our whole life depends on what we put our trust in or who we trust. What makes this question even more difficult is that many people are doing all that is possible to win our trust only to serve their own selfish purposes. Politicians and advertising agencies know the importance of wining your trust. Even con artists know that to be able to deceive you, they must first win your trust. Trust is so important that one of the greatest disappointments in life is to discover that you have misplaced your trust or trusted the wrong person. Misplaced trust in good works or self-righteousness or in any person other than Jesus Christ has eternal consequences. The only One who deserves our trust is Jesus Christ. He was made sin with our sinfulness that we might be made righteous with His righteousness so that we can come boldly into God’s presence and call Him Abba Father.
Trust is built and nurtured through a relationship. The woman of Zarephath trusted the Lord who acknowledged His relationship with her when He said to Elijah “See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” Evidently the widow trusted the Lord and therefore believed the prophet. Although she had a need herself, she first gave what little she had to the prophet trusting the Lord to meet her needs. Her trust, obedience and generosity activated the miracle supply of God’s provisions. Can we truthfully say that our trust is in God and that our obedience and generosity can be compared to that of the woman of Zarephath.
Generosity is a response God’s love and believe in His promises. All the promises of the New Covenant of grace are available to all who believe “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Perfected and forever speaks of a sacrifice that comprehends every need of the entire human race, and its effects extend throughout time and into eternity. The sacrifice of Christ gives life for “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive”. (1Co 15:22) Salvation is only a free gift because Jesus Christ paid the full price for sin. It did not cost us anything but it cost God all He had, His only Son. Jesus Christ took our place and bore the full judgement of God on sin so that we could take His place. He became our sacrifice for the sin offering. Under the Old Covenant the sacrifice for the sin offering had to be repeated over and over again because the judgement of God on sin was far greater than the sacrifice. It pointed to the need for a better sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice that would not have to be repeated. It pointed to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. There Jesus Christ after He had exhausted all the judgement of God on sin cried out “It is finished”. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was far greater than the judgement therefore there is no longer any need for a sacrifice. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is more than sufficient to pay the price for our past, present and future sin.
The blood of Christ has not only paid the penalty for sin but has also imputed to us the righteousness of Christ. God’s righteousness gives us access to His presence as His beloved children. How can we ever forget the One who not only created us but also delivered us from slavery to sin, Satan and death? Let us value His sacrifice by believing in Him and living a life of trust, obedience and generosity. Generosity reflects the condition of the heart and our generosity acknowledges our belief in God and His promises.
The story about the widow’s mite is not only about money but also about the condition of her heart. Jesus made a contrast between people who had a lot of money and trusted in their own resources and a poor widow with very little who put her complete trust or faith in God. Jesus was not only concerned about the amount offered but about the condition of the heart. The religious leaders gave what appeared to be large amounts but compared to what they had it was very little. God does not look at the amount we give but at the amount we keep for ourselves. He sees in percentages. The religious leaders most likely gave less than 1% of what they had whereas the widow gave 100% of what she had. Her action clearly showed the condition of her heart and that she trusted God to take care of her. God always meets the needs of those who trust Him. However, every miracle, large or small, always begins with an act of generosity. Very often we may not see the solution until we take the first step of faith.
If we really believed and trusted Christ, we would realise that we have a great deal to thank Him for. But many of us are not like the widow of Zarephath or the woman with the two mites. Rather we are like the Israelites in the wilderness, who instead of being thankful, were always murmuring and complaining. We should stop complaining, be thankful and generous and trust God to meet our needs as He has promised. When we are threatened by the winds and waves of life’s storms let our generosity be the evidence of our trust in God. When life deals us a blow and we appear to have hit rock bottom let our generosity be the evidence of our trust in God. When we fall and lose the financial resources we had counted on, let our generosity be the evidence of our trust in God. In every situation we find ourselves, even when afraid we will never get back up, let our generosity be the evidence of our trust in God. We have every reason in the world to be generous and trust Jesus Christ to take care of us. It is our prayer that today we will follow the example of all those who trusted the Lord and lead lives of obedience, integrity, humility and generosity to the praise and glory of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
