| How Does God Respond to Your Generosity? |
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| By Rick Warren — Jun 5, 2015 |
“God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others.” (2 Corinthians 9:8 TLB)
I heard a story about a man who took his son to McDonalds and bought him super size French fries. On the way home, those fries smelled so good, so he reached over and took one little French fry out of his son’s carton and ate it. His son got all upset and said, “Dad, you can’t have that one. These are my fries!” The dad immediately had three thoughts:
“First, my child has forgotten that I am the source of all fries. I took him to McDonalds, I made the order, I paid for the order, I handed them to him, and I’m driving him back home. The only reason he got any fries was because of me, the Great Fry Giver!
“Second, my child doesn’t realize I could take the fries away in a second if I wanted to. Or, on the other hand, I could buy him an entire truckload of fries if I wanted to, because I have the power to do either.
“Third, I didn’t need his fries. I could easily get my own. I could buy myself a hundred cartons of them if I wanted to. I just wanted him to learn to be unselfish.”
Those three lessons are the same ones God wants you to learn so that you can be generous with other people. First, God wants you to remember that he is the source of everything you’ve got. You would have nothing — you wouldn’t even be alive! — if it weren’t for God. He chose to create you and give you all the things you’ve got. Second, God can take it all away from you in an instant, or he could double it, because he’s got the power. Third, God doesn’t need your money. He just wants you to learn to be unselfish and generous. He wants to develop your faith.
What happens when you start becoming a more generous person? The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:8,“God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others” (TLB).
God says if you will practice generosity, he will give you everything you need plus more so you’ll have enough to share with other people. He’s looking for a channel like a straw, and when he finds it — someone who’s willing to say, “God, use me to be a blessing to other people” — he just starts pouring blessing straight through it.
If you will learn to be generous, God will bless you more than you can imagine!
Talk It Over
- How does the way you treat and use your possessions and resources reflect your understanding that everything you have belongs to God?
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- If God were to take everything away from you today, how would you respond?
- What can you do to give generously to someone or something this week?
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He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.--Psalm 1:3
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You know, this old world is a desert! It’s a dry and barren place.
But the true man or woman of God has roots down deep with hidden springs that satisfy and supply the longings of his heart.
Our relationship with God through Jesus Christ releases the rivers of God’s Spirit so that we are refreshed and revitalized daily. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:16, “Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.”
And friend, that’s what God is trying to do with your life! God wants to make you like Jesus.
But the question is this: Are you planting yourself by “streams of water” by spending time with God each day?
There are tremendous benefits to situating yourself by the refreshing, live-giving waters of Jesus Christ: stability, vitality, productivity, consistency, and maturity.
Don’t be a man or woman who’s lost his way, but one who has discovered "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6) that is in Jesus Christ!
A true man or woman of God is situated by the waters.
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