Being Generous = Being Gracious

1 Timothy 6:17-19 (New International Version)

¹⁷Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

The focus of the midweek service was on living a generous life. From verse 19 it says that being generous is a way to experience "life that is truly life".

Pastor Neiman described being generous as "to be benevolent, causing things to be brought together for God's glory and for the benefit of the self and others." It goes beyond being just generous with one's finances; it includes being generous with one's time, forgiveness, attention, and other things. It is a promise in verse 19 that being generous builds up a firm foundation for the future and translates to life that is truly life.

As normal human beings, sometimes being generous is inconvenient or impossible and it is easy to look at our inadequacies. How do we look away from that? We must remember that we "belong to Christ, then [we] are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29). What is that promise? One part of it is in Genesis 12:2 when God tells Abraham, "I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing." God has already blessed us and we are blessed to be a blessing! We do not have to worry that we will lose out when we live generously because the promise is that there will be a firm foundation for the future. Knowing that God is a loving father, we can trust that our future is taken care of!

Throughout the sharing I just felt that generosity is actually being gracious. When a person is so full of grace, it becomes easy to be generous. Generosity is a fruit of living under grace. When we receive grace, even grace personified himself (Jesus), it becomes easy to be gracious to people and to live generously.

God's own nature is one of generosity - of graciousness. Even the popular verse shows that: "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." In simpler terms: God loved, God gave, and we possess.

In Acts 4:32-35 it talks of the awesome magnitude of the generosity that the early church displayed (go and read it for yourself, ok?). I believe the secret is in verse 33. What made the early church so generous? I believe it was because "great grace was upon them". They had such a great revelation of Jesus; of grace, that it resulted into generosity.

As we continue to be renewed in our minds by seeing more of Jesus, this graciousness translates into generosity. It is through receiving first, the grace of God in the person of Jesus, that we become filled to be able to be give; we become are blessed to be a blessing!