Extravagant Giving

A number of years ago a friend of mine, at that time a school teacher earning a very low salary, told me she had just been through a period of several months where many of the people in the community (staff, students, parents and others) had approached her constantly for cash loans or gifts. The needs were great, and she had recently given half her monthly salary to  help someone to pay for a funeral. She had begun to struggle financially as a result and was feeling "used". And resentful. And then God challenged her with Luke 6:30 where it says Give away to everyone who begs of you who is in want of necessities, and of him who takes away from you your goods, do not demand or require them back again.

She said, Well God, I will do as you say but then I need you to keep me in the black and not allow me to go into the red in my bank account. Something changed. From that moment the "asks" dropped off dramatically and she knew that the ones who did ask were somehow sent to her by God. And her bank account never looked better.

This week God highlighted another similar verse which appears later on in the same chapter - Luke 6:38 Give, and gifts will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will they pour into the pouch formed by the bosom of your robe and used as a bag.

Well, soon after being reminded of this verse I went into a supermarket with only a little cash on me. A well-dressed man approached me and said he had just got out of prison. He was asking me for money. To my shame, although I have always thought of myself as a generous, giving person, I did not give that man the last of my cash. I said I can't help you. I felt dreadful within minutes after the lost opportunity to be a blessing to someone in need. May God forgive my stinginess and give me another opportunity to be generous.

In the past, I have always found God is so generous, and when I do give away my last cent (or bank notes) I am always abundant and overflowing in blessings soon after. I remember hearing a testimony once of a wealthy businessman who said, before he "made it" in business, he often gave away the last of his cash to someone in need and had to walk hours home after a meeting instead of catching the tube or train since he'd given away the money he would have spent on the tube (he lived in London). At the time (years later) of giving this testimony the man owned a major international corporation that brought him a personal income of £25 million per year. I have no doubt that Mark 4:25 is true. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes.

God rewards our generosity to those in need and pays us back with interest at a level way beyond our giving. I need a bit more practice it seems. At living generously.