Not long ago, I read the story of Fred Barley, a 19-year-old man who was found living in a tent on the campus of Gordon State College in Barnesville, Georgia. When the police found him, it was their intention to evict him from the property, but then they learned the rest of his story.
Barley was registered to take classes at the school. He was a biology major who was about to begin his second semester. Because of his lack of finances, he didn't have the transportation he needed to get there. So he borrowed his little brother's bicycle and rode it six hours from home to campus while carrying his possessions on his back. He also carried two gallons of water and a box of cereal with him.
Barley arrived before the semester began with the goal of landing a job, but he couldn't find anything. When the police officers that found him heard his story, they paid for him to stay at a local hotel at their own expense. Then word of his story started spreading, and others contributed toward his subsequent hotel costs and other expenses. A local pizza shop also reached out and gave him a job. Then a woman set up an online campaign to raise additional funds for him. The campaign was so popular it raised $184,000 which was put into an educational trust to cover the rest of his expenses during his college years. -rd.com
When I heard that story, I couldn't help but feel impacted by that kind of generosity. And while Fred Barley was certainly blessed by those who stepped in to meet his needs, I'm certain those who assisted him would testify to the fact that they felt just as blessed, if not more, when they chose to help him.
Psalm 112:5 speaks of generosity. In that passage, we're told that a person of unshakable character looks for opportunities to use their resources to benefit the lives of others. We're told, "It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice." (Psalm 112:5).
The nature of this person's character offers us a great picture of the heart of Jesus. In many ways, Jesus demonstrated His desire to bless others and ease their suffering. We see this in moments when He provided people with food and other provisions. We also see this in His desire to share the joys of His eternal kingdom with all who trust in Him. A generous person shows a desire to treat others with the same kind of giving spirit Jesus exemplified.
When Psalm 112 speaks of the man who deals generously, it speaks of a person who has chosen to go through life thinking about more than his own personal benefit. The generous person has their whole community in mind when they sow the seeds of generosity among those they interact with. This may include helping the poor or it may include easing the suffering of a loved one during an unexpected trial.
I recently heard about Ruth Bilotta, a woman in Churchville, Pennsylvania who spent a year running back and forth to the hospital to be with her husband who was receiving care during all that time. In the process of prioritizing his medical needs, she said, "My house was left to fend for itself."
One evening, she came home from spending the day at her husband's side and discovered that the flower boxes around her home were brimming with beautiful flowers. One of her neighbors wanted her to have something nice to look at when she arrived home each day, so the neighbor decided to take care of this for her. -Ruth Bilotta
““Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.” ”
The Bible speak of generosity and hospitality as virtues that are dear to the heart of God. They have great opportunity to be demonstrated in the context of community. God values community. We see this in how He established the family. We also see this demonstrated in the culture of ancient Israel. And in present day, we see this in the ways in which He instructs the church to live, serve, and worship together while meeting one another's needs.
““The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.” ”
If you asked most people what they hope for in this world, I suspect that many would say something to the effect of, "I'd like to live a long time, in good health, with all my needs met and with enough extra that I don't feel like I need to worry." And if we feel like acting super spiritual, we can pick apart that mindset and point out its weaknesses, but the truth is, that's a statement that I think just about every person I have ever met could easily make.
But for those of us who know Jesus, we're learning to value eternal things as well. Jesus is teaching us that our lives are about more than the accumulation of things. We see our lives, and their use, from a much longer timetable than ten or less brief decades on this planet. As Jesus gave His life for the benefit of others, we seek to do likewise. Our earthly lives are a loan from God that we're meant to use for His glory by investing in others as He enables us to do so.
So if we can identify some of the many ways in which the Lord has blessed us through His generosity, and if we'd like to demonstrate Christ-centered generosity within the culture and the generation in which we have been intentionally placed, how should we go about doing that?
Recognize that you've been gifted to be generous
““You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.” ”
When we read about the Lord enriching us, it can be easy to think of that as exclusively financial, but there are other ways the Lord has enriched us. Scripture tells us that we have been enriched in every way to be generous in every way. The Lord enriches all of His children with spiritual gifts that are meant to be utilized as we serve one another. Some of us can also identify physical resources, finances, skills, and relationships that we've been blessed with and called to be generous with. Frankly, there isn't a category you can point to that the Lord hasn't called us to share what we've been blessed with.
So if we want to bless others, let's begin with acknowledging that we've been blessed. But don't compare your blessings to others. You'll always be able to find someone else who seems to have a little more than you and someone who seems to have a little less. Instead of engaging in unhealthy comparison, just gratefully acknowledge what you have and remind your heart that you're being divinely blessed in order that you might have the privilege to be a blessing.
Keep your eyes open to the needs the Lord will show you
““But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” ”
As your love for Jesus grows, your desire to meet the needs of your brother or sister will grow as well. When the Lord places within your heart the desire to be generous, He's giving you the opportunity to understand how His mind and motivations work. He delights to share good things with His children and He will place that delight within you. He will show you where to exercise generosity and help you to be cautious about those who may be deceptively seeking to take advantage of your giving nature.
Don't try to drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit when He speaks to you about the needs you've been called to meet. Seek His wisdom to know which needs are genuine. Scripture uses the example of seeing your brother in need. Your brother is someone whose life you can observe. There is a level of accountability there that can help you avoid unintentionally funding reckless and godless behavior.
Become an intentional steward of this world's resources
Over time, the Lord has convinced me that it's careless and ignorant to be wasteful with the resources He entrusts to us. I think Christians should be an example to this world of what generosity really looks like, but for that to happen consistently, we need to learn to value intentional stewardship of the resources we have access to, most notably our finances.
I used to follow this world's pattern when it came to my personal finances. I bought things I couldn't afford. I didn't save for emergencies. I wasn't investing for the future. I watched TV during the hours of the evening when I could have been developing additional streams of income. I treated debt like it wasn't a threat to my family's well-being, and I robbed myself of opportunities to be generous because I didn't give myself any margin by which I could do so because I chose to live right on the edge financially.
When this started to become clear to me, I was driving a brand new truck with a hefty payment and poor gas mileage. It was also expensive to insure. I remember doing the math and realizing how much I could save each month if I got rid of it, so I woke up one day and told my wife, "I'm getting rid of the truck today and buying something we can actually afford." She was shocked but supportive, and later that day I came home with a base model sedan with crank windows and zero frills. That decision was the start of our personal financial transformation that has led to greater peace and more opportunities to be generous.
I don't see any reason why Christians should follow the irresponsible financial mindset that's embraced by our culture. It's a mindset that's centered on consumption, debt, and outright fraud. It's a mindset that seeks to "get" at whatever cost it can, not a mindset centered on "giving" and careful stewardship.
I believe it should be our aim to be spiritually, relationally, emotionally, physically, and financially healthy, and to serve as examples to our culture of the ways in which the Holy Spirit empowers this kind of health. When it comes to our finances, I believe Christians should blaze the trail for the rest of the culture to understand what it looks like to earn, save, invest, and give for Christ's glory.
““When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous. Now, if that man when he gets all he can and saves all he can does not give all he can, I have more hope for Judas Iscariot than for that man!””
What are you doing with what the Lord has made available to you? Are you wasting it or are you shaping it? Are you figuring out new ways to earn, wiser ways to save, and more effective ways to invest so you can be a blessing to those with genuine needs, or are you choosing to stay needy because of excess and irresponsibly far beyond what was actually necessary?
Generosity, at its core, is a fruit of spiritual discipline and spiritual maturity. What are we doing with what we've been given, and if our current pattern continues, will it lead to more opportunities for generosity or less?
““Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.””
