Even if all we have is a little, the Lord desires us to be joyfully generous, so that He will have for His church an abundance for every good work. Let us not be selfish or deceived by money. In a real sense, money is not a blessing; it’s a test.
Generosity
Ed Cole
After giving something to God, you are no longer accountable for it. Your blessing is based on your giving, not on what others do with the gift.
Timothy Keller
It is not our lavish good deeds that procure salvation, but God’s lavish love and mercy. That is why the poor are as acceptable before God as the rich. It is the generosity of God, the freeness of his salvation, that lays the foundation for the society of justice for all. Even in the seemingly boring rules and regulations of tabernacle rituals, we see that God cares about the poor, that his laws make provision for the disadvantaged. God’s concern for justice permeated every part of Israel’s life. It should also permeate our lives.
Billy Graham
God has given us two hands — one to receive with and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for giving.
Gregory Nazianzen
Recognize to whom you owe the fact that you exist, that you breathe, that you understand, that you are wise, and, above all, that you know God and hope for the kingdom of heaven. You have been made a son of God, co-heir with Christ. Where did you get all this, and from whom?…. What benefactor has enabled you to look out upon the beauty of the sky, the sun in its course, the circle of the moon, the countless number of stars, with the harmony and order that are theirs, like the music of a harp? Who has blessed you with rain, with the art of husbandry, with different kinds of food, with the arts, with houses, with laws, with states, with a life of humanity and culture, with friendship and the easy familiarity of kinship? … Is it not God who asks you now in your turn to show yourself generous … Because we have received from him so many wonderful gifts, will we not be ashamed to refuse him this one thing only, our generosity?
Herbert Lockyer
The story is told of a farmer who was known for his generous giving and whose friends could not understand how he could give so much and yet remain so prosperous. One day a spokesman for his friends said. “We canto understand you. You give far more than any of the rest of us and yet you always seem to have more to give.” “Oh that is easy to explain,” the farmer said. “I keep shovelling into God’s bin and God keeps shovelling back into mine and God has the bigger shovel.”
Dick Nieusma
What do you have in your hand? Perhaps you, like Moses, feel that you have nothing with which you can serve God. But think about what your neighbours need. Maybe you can help them with whatever is in your hand. Maybe that is exactly what they need.
Katherine Walden
If you are feeling cluttered in your life, ask yourself this question. ‘Do I have a spiritual closet full of boxes of spiritual gifts, treasures, insights and lessons that have been untouched and unused in years?’ If so, share these insights with others! Utilize them in your life today! Clear the closet!
Frederick Buechner
People are prepared for everything except for the fact that beyond the darkness of their blindness there is a great light. They are prepared to go on breaking their backs plowing the same old field until the cows come home without seeing, until they stub their toes on it, that there is a treasure buried in that field rich enough to buy Texas. They are prepared for a God who strikes hard bargains but not for a God who gives as much for an hour’s work as for a day’s. They are prepared for a mustard-seed kingdom of God no bigger than the eye of a newt but not for the great banyan it becomes with birds in its branches singing Mozart. They are prepared for the potluck supper at First Presbyterian but not for the marriage supper of the lamb.
Elisabeth Elliot
Do you often feel like parched ground, unable to produce anything worthwhile? I do. When I am in need of refreshment, it isn’t easy to think of the needs of others. But I have found that if, instead of praying for my own comfort and satisfaction, I ask the Lord to enable me to give to others, an amazing thing often happens – I find my own needs wonderfully met. Refreshment comes in ways I would never have thought of, both for others, and then, incidentally, for myself.