December 29th, 2022
by Will Pareja
by Will Pareja
Have you ever thought: “I wish I were rich so I could give most of it away”? Hopefully, this mindset responds to God's kind of generosity lavished upon you through his Son. However, the one flaw in this thought was this: ‘who says you have to be rich to give your stuff away’? By global standards, we’re amongst the more wealthy in the world. Two Scriptural examples of generosity with money stunningly are poor people. Luke 21:1-4 is the first:
“[Jesus] looked up and saw the rich dropping their offerings into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow dropping in two tiny coins. “I tell you the truth,” He said. “This poor widow has put in more than all of them. For all these people have put in gifts out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, has put in all she had to live on.”
2 Corinthians 8:1-5 is the second example:
“We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God granted to the churches of Macedonia: During a severe testing by affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed into the wealth of their generosity. I testify that, on their own, according to their ability and beyond their ability, they begged us insistently for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints...”
God’s generosity in the gospel to me through Christ should motivate me to be generous with my resources. Randy Alcorn’s short book The Treasure Principle both excites and motivates me to become a more generous giver to God’s work and to the needy. Here are his six “Treasure Principle Keys”:
1) God owns everything. I’m his money manager.
2) My heart always goes where I put God’s money.
3) Heaven, not earth, is my home.
4) I should live not for the dot but for the line. From the dot—our present life on earth—extends a line that goes on forever, which is eternity in heaven.
5) Giving is the only antidote to materialism.
6) God prospers me not to raise my standard of living but to raise my standard of giving.
“[Jesus] looked up and saw the rich dropping their offerings into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow dropping in two tiny coins. “I tell you the truth,” He said. “This poor widow has put in more than all of them. For all these people have put in gifts out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, has put in all she had to live on.”
2 Corinthians 8:1-5 is the second example:
“We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God granted to the churches of Macedonia: During a severe testing by affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed into the wealth of their generosity. I testify that, on their own, according to their ability and beyond their ability, they begged us insistently for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints...”
God’s generosity in the gospel to me through Christ should motivate me to be generous with my resources. Randy Alcorn’s short book The Treasure Principle both excites and motivates me to become a more generous giver to God’s work and to the needy. Here are his six “Treasure Principle Keys”:
1) God owns everything. I’m his money manager.
2) My heart always goes where I put God’s money.
3) Heaven, not earth, is my home.
4) I should live not for the dot but for the line. From the dot—our present life on earth—extends a line that goes on forever, which is eternity in heaven.
5) Giving is the only antidote to materialism.
6) God prospers me not to raise my standard of living but to raise my standard of giving.
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