Generosity

Good morning, ladies!

As Christmas approaches, I would like to focus on generosity since this is a time of year when people are usually in a more generous mood. Jason blogged this week on giving/tithing and that’s part of it, but I want to look at generosity in a broader sense.

This year we are blessed to be sharing our home with three children, and I’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of many people. In the past month we have been blessed by people from the church with clothes, sleds and scooters for the kids. We have had offers to babysit when we need a break. We’ve had gifts donated for Christmas from the community. People have sent cookies and given so much to make sure these kids have a memorable and happy Christmas. I’ve always heard that Missouri is the Show Me State and our church and community have really “Shown Me” that this is an area of the country that actually cares about one another.

The word generous means to be liberal in giving or sharing. It’s easy to give of the overflow that we have but it gets harder when we feel that we have just enough for ourselves. We’ve all had “lean” years when we were just getting by but there are so many opportunities to give of ourselves. We can give of our time by donating hours to serve at shelters, food banks and other community projects. We can give of the talents that God has blessed us with. I saw some of that last Sunday when the church came together to put on a Christmas program with the kids. Many donated their time and talents to bring it together and make it the success it was.

What does Scripture say about generosity?  In Acts 20:35, Jesus says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” I have met some very generous Christians over the years, and I can honestly say that they ENJOY giving! And God has blessed them for their giving. I don’t believe they do it for the blessings, they actually get joy from giving to others.

Matthew 6:21 tells us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” This verse was confusing to me when I was a new Christian. First of all, I lived paycheck to paycheck washing cars for $3.35 an hour, that was minimum wage at the time. I didn’t feel that I had any treasure, I was still living with my parents! I was making car payments and that was about all I was earning. As I look back, it was that car that was my treasure, I washed and waxed it every week! Imagine Gollum from The Hobbit, shining the car and whispering, “My Precious!!!!!” Over the years I’ve found that where we invest our time and money is definitely where our heart is. It might be our home, our car, our business or any other thing. But what greater investment for our time, money and talents than the things of God?! When we invest in our local church and its people, our hearts are in the church. It truly is an investment for our family and community. What we put in comes back to us in so many ways. It might be seeing our children or grandchildren come to Jesus. It might be the spiritual growth we see in our young families. It might be in sponsoring a mission trip or a missionary to take the gospel to another place.

Lastly, our attitude about being generous, is something we need to teach our children and grandchildren. No one needs to be taught to be selfish or greedy, that comes pretty naturally to people. When kids start interacting with one another, how often do we hear the words, “It’s Mine!” Adults aren’t that much better, they just find different ways of saying it. When our son was a toddler, Jason was working for a farmer, and I was back in school trying to get a degree to get a better job. We had very little and the college I was attending had an angel tree where many of the students could put an angel with their child’s name and sizes and needs for Christmas. I was way too proud to put my son’s name on that tree, but a friend of mine who was a faculty member at the college put his name up there and a couple families came together to help us make a nice Christmas for him. After that, every year I would take names from those angel trees for my own kids, a boy of the same age for my son or a girl of the same age for my daughter, and I would take them shopping to buy presents for other children who didn’t have as much as them. They were so happy shopping for these other kids and picking out things they would like to receive. We can teach our kids about the joy of giving by helping them have opportunity to give.

Remember, we all have something to give back to God, whether it’s our finances, our time or our talents, we should try to invest them wisely in God’s kingdom. As always, if you haven’t visited Pleasant Grove yet, join us this weekend or on Christmas Eve, it’s worth the drive!

Lori Hug