Routine Acts of Outrageous Generosity

 We Christian folks have been called to be a generous people, not measured by the amount we might be able to give but by the spirit of our generosity.  Jesus shared about a woman who had next to nothing but gave it from her heart.  Her gift probably didn't make much of a difference to anybody but God; but then isn't our whole life about living in response to God? 

The apostle Paul told the early church "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9).  Because of what Jesus has done for us we can't keep it contained.  And, it's not just about money, even though our culture seems to be obsessed (overly obsessed) with money.  It is about living in response to the incredible and amazing grace of God. 

           

Someone said we ought to practice random acts of kindness.  I don't think this is true at all.  There ought to be nothing random about kindness or generosity.  When one knows that he or she deserves nothing from God but judgment but has received, instead, love, acceptance, and forgiveness, heaven, if you would, how could one be random in generosity? 

           

The ways of God in our lives ought to compel us to live lives of outrageous generosity, generosity with our resources, our kindness, our mercy, our forgiveness, our love.  Christians can't be cheapskates and seriously think they are walking in the steps of Jesus. Somebody once said, "Find a need and meet it."  This is the spirit of generosity. 

           

Let's choose to live in response to the self-giving of Jesus.  We can't do everything but we can live in the spirit of generosity, with our eyes fixed on Jesus.