Proverbs 11:24-25 24 One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7 6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
One of the most accurate, albeit overused, cliché in Christian circles, and beyond, is "They don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care". "They" is often referring to those who do not know Jesus. Basically this means that people don't care about the facts we have stored up about Jesus, God, Being "Saved", or the Bible, until they see Jesus in our actions and interactions with them. At this point will they open their ears to the truths that we have been entrusted with about Jesus and what it means to be "saved".
One of the most powerful ways that we can show Jesus, is through living a life of generosity. Simply put, if we are Christmas to people, we can open up avenues to talk about Christ with people. In our above Scriptures, we see that generosity is a powerful tool. In Proverbs 11, it says the more you give the more you receive (this DOES NOT always mean financial means). 2 Corinthians 9 clearly backs up the proverbial claim. I would encourage us not to see these verses through selfish tinted glasses (i.e. if I give, I receive), but instead through selfless tinted glasses (i.e. if I give, I receive for the continual benefit of others).
We can often try to relegate, and in turn we are minimizing, generosity to a simple formula and a specific aspect of our life. We try to say that I am generous if I give 10% of my income to the local church. Then we become selfishly dictatorial with the other 90% of our finances and all other areas of our lives. However, generosity is so much more than that. If we look at the Bible (Old and New Testaments), we see that God is much more interested in transforming the entire person, than a measly 10% of our income. A biblical definition of generosity is being 100% others focused and God led in 100% of our lives.
Characteristics of a Generous Christ Follower.
·Generous with our time for those in need (physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally)
·Generous with our cash (above and beyond the 10%) for the benefit of the local church, missionaries, ministries, organizations, loved ones, neighbors (biblical definition), people we don't know, etc.
·Generous with our talents.
All this will flow out of our understanding that the only reason we have these things to give, is because they were gifted to us by God Himself. Our time is not our own, our money is not our own, and our talents are not our own.
Be Christmas to People, in order to show and speak Christ to people!
