September 25, 2024
Adam's Blog: Four Steps in the Journey of Generosity
When it comes to generosity, it can start with one simple act and then turn into a way of life. The journey of trusting God with everything and being generous is really about more than material wealth or how much we give. It’s much more about our response to God’s love, and our opportunity to show His love to others. But sometimes we can feel a little stuck in our giving journey, so we like to use examples of four steps we might take to surrender our finances to God. It’s hard to talk about money, and it’s hard to see money as a spiritual thing. But if we believe everything we have comes from God, we should definitely respond with spending it how He desires.
I encourage you to identify where you believe you currently are and where God is prompting you to trust Him.
FOUR STEPS IN THE JOURNEY OF GENEROSITY
1. Give for the first time. Giving for the first time can be a huge step. Generosity won’t happen in your life unless you make it a priority. No matter if you feel rich or poor or financially healthy or not – prioritize giving. Generosity isn’t dependent on your finances at all. Generosity is really dependent on your heart, and begins wherever you are.
I believe God is going to provide in ways you don’t even comprehend yet as you start your journey through generosity. I’ve seen it in my own life. Start the journey, take that first step and you’ll find out you can’t out-give God.
2. Give regularly. This is making a choice to prioritize generosity over time. Giving for the first time is a big deal, and giving regularly continues that act of surrender to God. Giving regularly can be as simple as adding it into our budget, intentionally doing without something, sacrificing something like a cup of coffee or eating out one day a week, and instead, giving it back to God.
3. Give a percentage. I think the more extra money we get, the less it looks like extra to us. We trick ourselves, because we look at a dollar amount and think, “Wow, that’s generous.”
Here’s what I mean: Elon Musk is the richest person in the world right now. He’s worth 257 billion dollars. Billion with a B. If he gave you $15,000, you would be thrilled. That’s a lot of money, right? But here’s a logic problem for you: Is it generous? Because it’s less than .00001% of his wealth.
Here’s the point – percentage giving reveals the generous heart in a different way. The heart behind the percentage matters more than the sum. It’s the heart of generosity. I’d encourage you to start somewhere. Even if it’s .00001%, give it consistently, and then challenge yourself to raise that percentage each year or every time you get a raise. My encouragement is to make sure your heart is right when it comes to generosity.
For generosity to become a significant and regular part of your spiritual journey, perhaps this is a challenging step.
4. Give above and beyond. Maybe you already give a percentage of your income. Would you commit to becoming an impact giver to have an even greater impact? Perhaps it’s selling the boat that has been in the garage for three years and you haven’t taken it out once, and intentionally and sacrificially surrendering it to God. Perhaps it’s being open to the tug and prompt in your heart that you don’t need just a little more. Rather, you’d be completely satisfied and content with a little less.
Where are you on this giving journey? I share this because it helps to challenge us to surrender everything to God. What is God prompting you to do?
I encourage you to identify where you believe you currently are and where God is prompting you to trust Him.
FOUR STEPS IN THE JOURNEY OF GENEROSITY
1. Give for the first time. Giving for the first time can be a huge step. Generosity won’t happen in your life unless you make it a priority. No matter if you feel rich or poor or financially healthy or not – prioritize giving. Generosity isn’t dependent on your finances at all. Generosity is really dependent on your heart, and begins wherever you are.
I believe God is going to provide in ways you don’t even comprehend yet as you start your journey through generosity. I’ve seen it in my own life. Start the journey, take that first step and you’ll find out you can’t out-give God.
2. Give regularly. This is making a choice to prioritize generosity over time. Giving for the first time is a big deal, and giving regularly continues that act of surrender to God. Giving regularly can be as simple as adding it into our budget, intentionally doing without something, sacrificing something like a cup of coffee or eating out one day a week, and instead, giving it back to God.
3. Give a percentage. I think the more extra money we get, the less it looks like extra to us. We trick ourselves, because we look at a dollar amount and think, “Wow, that’s generous.”
Here’s what I mean: Elon Musk is the richest person in the world right now. He’s worth 257 billion dollars. Billion with a B. If he gave you $15,000, you would be thrilled. That’s a lot of money, right? But here’s a logic problem for you: Is it generous? Because it’s less than .00001% of his wealth.
Here’s the point – percentage giving reveals the generous heart in a different way. The heart behind the percentage matters more than the sum. It’s the heart of generosity. I’d encourage you to start somewhere. Even if it’s .00001%, give it consistently, and then challenge yourself to raise that percentage each year or every time you get a raise. My encouragement is to make sure your heart is right when it comes to generosity.
For generosity to become a significant and regular part of your spiritual journey, perhaps this is a challenging step.
4. Give above and beyond. Maybe you already give a percentage of your income. Would you commit to becoming an impact giver to have an even greater impact? Perhaps it’s selling the boat that has been in the garage for three years and you haven’t taken it out once, and intentionally and sacrificially surrendering it to God. Perhaps it’s being open to the tug and prompt in your heart that you don’t need just a little more. Rather, you’d be completely satisfied and content with a little less.
Where are you on this giving journey? I share this because it helps to challenge us to surrender everything to God. What is God prompting you to do?
