A Word About Generosity

Early in our ministry, my wife and I served on the staff of a great church. She worked as a volunteer director of the church nursery, caring for the babies and infants while parents enjoyed a worship service. One hired assistant was needed to help in the nursery, and my wife placed an ad in the newspaper, hoping to find some trained and qualified help.

She screened applicants carefully, of course. She had developed a detailed application for those who applied, followed by an in-person interview. There were questions about experience, schedules for services, general health. And the church background and affiliation of the individual was a part of the application process. One particular question and response of one woman will always stay in my mind. The question on the application was, “Do you attend church regularly? Yes or No?” With a follow-up question: Denominational preference. A blank line followed so respondents could record their answer.

One of the applicants wrote that, yes, she attended church regularly. And her denominational preference was, “About two dollars a week.” We were asking one question; she was answering something totally different.

Jesus once sat near the offering box at the temple and watched people give. Some gave large amounts. Then a widow came and dropped in two small coins. Worth almost nothing. But Jesus said she gave more than all the rest, because they gave from their surplus, and she gave all she had. Generosity, according to Jesus, had almost nothing to do with the amount given, and everything to do with the heart behind it.

The Bible says God loves a cheerful giver. Not a pressured giver. Not a proud one. The Greek word used here actually translates ‘hilarious,’ not in the humorous context but more like ‘glee.’ Generosity for the believer is not merely a perfunctory obligation. It is a way of life. A way of acknowledging that everything I have is on loan from God and has been intrusted to my care in the first place.

Generosity has a quiet nature to it, I think. A little like humility. The moment I stop and notice how humble I’m trying to be, something in it shifts in my mindset. Generosity is much the same. Jesus said, do your giving in secret. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. In other words, I need to be careful not to admire my own generosity. I might still be giving, but I am no longer worshipping.

If you think about it, the crowning element of generosity is not avoiding greed. It’s redefining ownership. My money? My time? My rights? The truth is, none of those are mine. They’re all His. I get to have the joyous delight of offering back to Him what was never really mine to begin with.

I don’t know, but I imagine that the Lord may have smiled at the innocence  of that woman who said her denominational preference was about two dollars a week. But I think Jesus pointed to genuine generosity when he took note of the widow and her two coins. It is not about how much money I may give in the offering this week. It is about how much joyous generosity … will be in my offering?