Most of us often face challenges in being generous. While it is very easy to give away something that we do not use anymore (like old clothes, appliances or broken gadgets), it's admittedly hard to give away something that we consider valuable and still of use to us.
Friends, it's often the valuable and the useful things that we have to learn to give away so that we can truly be generous.
What do you value the most?
While the Bible presents us with varied illustrations of generosity, one that impacts me greatly (aside from God giving us His one and only Son) is when the Lord Jesus spoke to a rich young ruler who wanted to know the way to inherit eternal life.
Mark 10:21 tells us Jesus' answer: "Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. 'There is still one thing you haven't done,' He told him. 'Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'"
While apparently we all know that salvation comes by grace through faith and living the life that God wants for us means denying ourselves and taking up our cross as we follow Christ, we find that following Christ means counting all worldly riches as nothing compared to the value of Christ for all eternity. His importance and value in our lives will enable us to "sell all [our] possessions and give the money to the poor," which is simply generosity.
If you are scared of losing your possessions and the accompanying comfort and prestige that riches bring, then it will be difficult for you to be generous the Jesus way. He Himself became poor so that through His poverty we could become rich. (see 2 Corinthians 8:9)
How to be generous the Jesus way
Friend, remember that in Jesus we are God's children, and as His children we have a vast amount of riches available for us in Christ. And if we are followers and imitators of Christ then we will realise that no matter what these riches are, no matter how great they may be, they only serve one purpose: to give glory to the Father.
Knowing this, we must recognise that all that we have is a blessing from the Lord, and it all belongs to Him. We are mere stewards of His goodness, cheerfully and joyfully passing on what has been given to us – first the spiritual which is the good news of Christ's atoning sacrifice, and second is the physical which is the generous sharing of all that we can give, so that there will be equality and God will be praised for your generosity.
2 Corinthians 9:10-15 encourages us, "For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!"
