Be Generous.

2 Corinthians 9
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

One of the things that God has been working with me on is the concept of being generous. I’m a driven man. I’ve also been trained growing up to be a good businessman. I was always taught if you want something you work hard until you get it. These ideals have served me well in my life, but they have always accentuated what I’d consider an area of weakness in me. I wouldn’t consider myself as someone who “loves money”, but I am someone who likes to keep the money that he has.

Additional factors, besides my business sense, include a fear of uncertain times and a fear of not being able to support my family when they need me the most. This often results in things like freaking out over the $5 purchase when there was a $4.25 option or having to unexpectedly pay a babysitter. Those fears in particular were magnified when we had Judah, and we made the decision for Lauren to stop working full-time with a previous employer to be a full-time mother. This resulted in a lot of stress and tension.

As I’ve asked for wisdom, God’s response has been simple, “You know, you’re right! You should hold onto the 90% you have left.” Okay…That’s not what He said, but that’s what I was hoping for. The real response was, “You need to be more generous with everything, not just your money.” At first that didn’t make sense to me, then it hit me. The more generosity I could infuse into life, the easier it would be to be generous. (Profound, I know.)

Here are a few of the areas I’m trying to be more generous in.

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