The Goodness of Generosity

When my daughter was two-years-old, my brother and his family came to our home for the weekend. With their daughters being three and one, it may have been the first big cousin get-together for the children. We spent the weekend navigating or refereeing the toddler “mine” phase of life. Since the time was spent at our house, my daughter’s toys were in play. If my niece was holding a toy, my daughter instinctively felt threatened and ripped the doll out of her hands, crying out, “Mine!” Like throwing a red flag on the play, Cile and I quickly intervened and gently reminded our daughter, “You share.” As if we hit the rewind button, this scenario repeated itself throughout the weekend until Sunday afternoon when my daughter grabbed the doll out of my niece’s hands to cry out, “Mine!” However, before either my wife or I could intervene, my niece grabbed the doll back out of her hands and said, “You share!”

Not long ago history repeated itself as the same song was sung to a different verse. This time friends were gathered at my daughter’s house where they were eating dinner. My daughter had made a homemade pizza. My four-year-old granddaughter loves mushrooms, and loves mushrooms on her pizza. She made it known to everyone at the table that she was sharing her mushrooms, as she reached over and took a mushroom off her “adopted uncle’s” pizza. When it was time for my granddaughter to share her mushrooms with him, she responded emphatically, “Mine!”

Something within us has a generous heart. Something within us wants to hoard our generosity, or at least restrict it, even tie it down so that it doesn’t go to everyone.

Generosity is a beautiful action motivated by the Spirit. When Paul lists the Fruit of the Spirit, he places generosity in the back third of the fruit. I can hear your mind processing, “Wait,” as you run through the list from Galatians 5:22-23, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” You’re thinking, “I don’t remember generosity being part of the Fruit of the Spirit.” Well, because it’s often lost in translation, the meaning behind goodness is actually generosity. Someone who is generous is someone who demonstrates goodness.

Generosity comes in all forms. People can be generous with their time. It’s one thing to spend a moment with someone, but it’s quite another to put everything aside to devote and focus on a person. We are all bound by our work devices and required to spend thirty minutes with our patients. Sure, some patients’ needs can be met within thirty minutes. Other patients’ needs take longer. When that happens, we put the device aside and talk to the patient. We engage them, and worry about documentation later.

People can be generous with their compliments, encouragment, and praise. “You’re doing a good job,” “Thank you for helping out,” “I’m glad you’re part of the team,” or “I like your style.” Compliments can go a long way in boosting morale, both individually and corporately. How many success stories have been shared because a teacher believed in a student and baptized the student in confidence, washing away the self-doubt. If it takes seven positives words to compensate one negative word, then positive messaging needs to be intentional. Since most people are battling hidden issues or demons, being generous with compliments can help bring healing.

When most people think of generosity, they think financial generosity. Churches, charities, schools, and any fundraising adventures are dependent on the generosity of its donners. How much generosity is offered determines how much can be accomplished. On a personal note I’ve witnessed much generosity from our hospice workers in their interaction with the patients, from Christmas gifts, to cups of coffee or milk shakes, to the Special Days events, and spending far more than the required thirty minutes with patients. Our coworkers are generous people.  

Paul was banking on the generosity of the Corinthians to help bring relief aid to the believers living in Judea who were doing all they could to survive a famine. When he brought the situation before the church, they were not only eager to help with the funds, but they were the first to volunteer (2 Cor. 8:10). Unfortunately, things didn’t unfold like Paul had hoped. Their excitement waned about the time their trust in Paul was fading. We know what happened. A group moved in to undermine Paul’s credibility. They challenged his authority and questioned his leadership. While they were suspect of Paul’s motive in this collection for the saints, they themselves were financially milking the Corinthians. Now that the relationship was on the mend, Paul tried jumpstarting the collection again.

Without resorting to guilt and shame, Paul toes the line of manipulation by describing the churches in Macedonia. The churches in that region, most notably Philippi and Thessalonica, were impoverished. Unlike Corinth and the providence of Achaia who claimed a bustling Metropolis and significant trade to fuel their economy, Macedonia faired less. And yet, their generous hearts made up for their lack of funds. Paul understood their financial situation, and yet they volunteered to give. More so, they enthusiastically wanted in on the ministry to help those in Judea. The contrast is almost too obvious to note. The wealthier churches struggling with their relationship to the apostle puts the squeeze on generosity, while the poorer churches with a strong relationship to the apostle opens the floodgates of their generosity. Or, the church boasting of the visual display of the Spirit in their lives, prevented the Spirit to move them toward generosity, while the church embracing humility allowed the Spirit to guide them in all things generously.

It is here that Paul makes a powerfully loaded statement, a statement that sums up the gospel.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich (8:9).

Everything is based on the grace of Jesus, from salvation to the ministries performed by the church to the generosity of people. Grace. Through this grace Jesus was rich but became poor. Most likely referencing to his pre-incarnation state with God or as God, Jesus had it all. In terms of wealth, he had everything beginning with the cattle on a thousand hills. Yet he gave it up. He generously relinquished his grip on power, position, and prosperity to embrace poverty. Such a move captures his incarnation where he stripped himself of his divine nature and became human. As a mortal Jesus identified, not with the wealthy, but with the impoverished, even claiming that he did not have a place to sleep at night.

Likely himself dependent on the generosity of others, Jesus freely gave. When he fed the 5000, was there really a need for twelve baskets full afterward, unless Jesus is generous with bread. When he healed the sick, did he really have to expend all of his healing power when whole cities brought their sick to him, unless Jesus is generous with healing. And when he forgave sins, was there a need to forgive as much as he did or does, unless Jesus is generous with forgiveness. The greatest display of Christ’s generosity may very well be salvation, both in the suffering and the gracious giving of his Holy Spirit. The generosity of Jesus motivates us to be just as generous as he.

Fred Craddock compares salvation to finances. He locks into the human nature of doing one big thing, as opposed to thousands of little things on a daily basis. We’d rather pick up our cross one time, than to think about picking it up today, then pick it back up tomorrow, then the next day, and so on and so on. He says we come to God and write out a million dollar check, going out in a whirlwind, and say, “This is for following you.” Believing our responsibility is over and we no longer are bothered by God again, God takes our check and goes to the bank. There he cashes the million dollars into quarters. He brings the change to us and says, “Now, spend the rest of your life giving this money away.” And the glorious whirlwind is replaced by the mundane, small acts of kindness. You sit and listen to a patient’s story, again, and to their pain, or to their loneliness. You just spent a quarter. You bring a milkshake to a patient. You just burned a whole fifty cents. You stop by the store to pick up groceries for a patient. That cost you seventy-five cents. You make a generous donation to relief aid for Judea, that’s a dollar, maybe. And when we make those deposits, one quarter at a time, it all starts to add up.

As my daughter grew and matured, she left behind the “mine” phase of her life. Entering middle school, two things happened simultaneously which held no correlation between the two. One, her growth rate ceased until eight grade where it picked up again. For three years, we did not need to buy her clothes, at least because she outgrew them. Secondly, her hair grew at an enormous rate. She was my little Crystal Gayle with brownish-blond hair. While my memory details are fuzzy, during this time we discovered Locks of Love, where people donate their hair so wigs can be made for cancer patients, particularly children. Four times in four years she volunteered to cut twelve inches from her hair to donate, highlighting the old VeggieTales motto, “If you have enough to care, you have enough to share.” It seemed she always had enough to share.

We think in terms of the bottom line, the bare minimum. God thinks in terms of generosity, because that is the standard God uses himself. Maybe that is why God is always so good.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)