PURE, JOYFUL GENEROSITY

Real generosity is highly regarded by God for it is one of the most recognizable parts of His nature. He is a giver. He gives overwhelmingly (“exceedingly abundantly beyond”) what we often need or deserve. When we give with faith-filled, passionate adoration unto Him, it displays Him and honors Him.

A NOBLE THING

Jesus encountered a woman, in Luke 14, who came and poured perfume on His head, anointing Him. It was worth a year’s wages. Miserly, humanistic men mocked her for her “foolishness” and tried to act like they were wiser and would have sold it and given the money to the poor. But Jesus swiftly rebuked them.

Then he describes the foundation of her generosity:

She has done what she could (Mark 14:8)

Wuest translates that phrase, “That which she had, she used.”

She didn’t hesitate or calculate. She gave with abandonment to the One who was worthy; the One she adored. Jesus said what she had done would always be remembered till the end of time. And it will.

HOW DO YOU GIVE?

Are you a narrow, calculating giver? God wants to deliver you from thinking you must measure every penny. He wants to set you free into the joy of hilarious giving. Such people believe in their God that He will always take care of those who give at His prompting. Those who give what they have with little thought of tomorrow. “That which they have, they use.”

God is blessed by their faith and passion, and they are always blessed by the backwash of His generosity.

Where do you see an opportunity to bless God and others today in abandoned giving? Don’t listen to the miserly. Just do it and be blessed.