Astonishing Generosity

The incalculable depths of what Jesus has already given us by his love, grace, and mercy should rock us to our core. Before we even begin to broaden our lens to consider what it means to live a lifestyle of astonishing generosity with our resources, we have to ground ourselves in accurate perspective. Jesus has given us everything. He is the Creator God who holds the universe in His hands, and He gave His very life for our freedom, so that we can be forgiven forever and spend eternity in relationship with Him. Our own giving is the privileged response of worship and faith from those who once were dead and now are alive in Him. Jesus invites us to trust Him with the resources He has placed in our hands, and when we respond with open-handed generosity, He promises to always come through and meet our needs in His perfect timing and His perfect ways.

In the Old Testament, we see God invite the Israelites to respond with generosity. They had been journeying through the desert on the way to the Promised Land, and it was time to build a tabernacle, a place where they could worship God. In Exodus 35, Moses shared this with the Israelites: “From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver, and bronze.” Several verses later, we read the people’s response to this invitation to generosity: “and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the Lord… all who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments.”

At a glance, it’s easy to read this and think, “This makes sense. Probably in Bible times, everybody just had gold instead of credit cards.” But we have to pause and remember that only a few months before, the Israelites had been a people in brutal oppression as slaves of the Egyptians for 400 years. We have to ask—where did all that gold and all the other offerings listed in Exodus 35 come from? 

Let’s take a short walk through a few chapters earlier in Exodus: God sent Moses to free His people from slavery to Pharaoh. Moses told Pharaoh that God said, “Let my people go!” And Pharaoh said, “No.” So God sent plague after plague, giving with the same command to free His people, and yet Pharaoh’s heart remained hard and unyielding. Then came the final devastating plague on the Egyptians that we call the “Passover”, when the Egyptian people suffered mightily, but the Israelites were protected. That night, Pharaoh summoned Moses and told him to take his people and leave. The Egyptians who had enslaved the Israelites for generations now urged them to hurry and leave their country. Exodus 12:35-36 says this: “The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.”

So, months later, when it came time to build the tabernacle, the Israelites had gold and other resources. How? Because God put it in their hands! But even then, God doesn’t make a demand. Instead, He offers an invitation for “those who are willing” to come give an offering to help build this place of worship and be with Him. Scripture tells us that it was those who were willing and whose hearts were moved to give who were the ones who gave.

God’s people were not just generous, but astonishingly generous. They brought “freewill” offerings morning after morning until the craftsmen building the tabernacle told Moses that they had received more than enough for doing the work the Lord had commanded. Moses literally had to “restrain the people from bringing more,” because they had received more than enough.

Can you imagine if this were a common problem amongst church leaders today?!  

The Israelites were a people living in light of their deliverance. They freshly remembered God’s faithfulness and compassion, His goodness and provision, and they had a firm grasp on Who put the resources in their hands. People with hearts in that posture are people who give until they have to be restrained.

We are just like the Israelites. We were once slaves to sin, but our Deliverer has rescued us, and now we are free! Our Heavenly Father has given us all the resources that we have, and He is inviting those who are willing of heart to entrust back to Him that which we have been given. Whether our generosity seems little or much in the eyes of the world, our gifts can be used for great and eternal things in the hands of the Father. 

How has God been faithful to you? How have you seen His deliverance in your life? Have you come to a place of accepting the gift of salvation and eternity with Him that God has offered you? If so, what, then, is your response? What step of astonishing generosity with your resources is God inviting you into?

Jesus, let me live in light of your astonishing generosity in my life and the free gift of salvation. Thank you for your faithfulness in the past and your faithfulness in the future. All I have is from you. Forgive me when I hold too tightly to the material gifts you have given me. Show me what step of astonishing generosity you would have me take with my resources in response to who you are and all that you have done and will do in my life. Amen.