The Generous Spirit

Being generous is not an easy discipline for many of us.  We worry so much about the "what if's" of life that we end up holding too tightly to the things of life.  And, if that hold tightly spirit takes root in our heart long enough, we end up thinking that all we have is ours and that none of it has anything to do with the blessings of God.  The Scripture is full of verses which admonish us to live with a sharing spirit and while we are willing to share some, our sharing often speaks more of being prudent than radical.    

In Paul's first letter to young Timothy, he says, "As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share..."  (I Timothy 6:17-18)  Before we put ourselves in a category of not being rich, we should think about our internet devices which a majority of the world's people could not afford.  We are all blessed with more than enough to feed us so that there is a thing like discretionary spending in our life.  The Word calls us to a generous life style.  It calls us to hold lightly to our stuff and to our attempts at security.    

To be generous often means an intentional effort until it becomes a natural and spontaneous response to the world which God bring into our life.  It may also require us to pray and dare to ask God to show us how we can be generous as well as to bring into our lives people with whom we can generously share.  We must be careful as we pray such a prayer for God may not regard our stuff with the same value that we do.  What we think we must have, He may call us to let go.