Tags

, ,

Be generous to God. — Broadmoor United Methodist Church

Solomon nailed this one dead on. Generosity brings more generosity. The more you give the more you like to give. It just gets better and better.

God’s Goal: Being stingy gets you nowhere. God’s goal for us is that we be generous. Our focus should be on how generous we can be. We should have a contest with ourselves to outdo our last act of generosity.

One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

English Standard Version. (2016). (Proverbs 11:24). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

These verses encourage generosity. By giving freely a person has plenty, a seeming paradox. Conversely a person who is miserly and stingy, failing to help others in obvious need, will himself always be in need.

By being generous a person prospers and is in turn helped. Grain in a farming society was a major medium of exchange; hoarding it could drastically affect prices. But a person who sold his grain and did not hoard it was a blessing to others.

  • Ephesians 4:32–5:2 (CSB) — 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. 1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.
  • Matthew 10:7–8 (CSB) — 7 As you go, proclaim, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you received, freely give.
  • Matthew 18:21–35 (CSB) — 21 Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?” 22 “I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven. 23 “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him. 25 Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt. 26 “At this, the servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan. 28 “That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’ 29 “At this, his fellow servant fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 But he wasn’t willing. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed. 31 When the other servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened. 32 Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”