Whole-life generosity is a life overflowing with kingdom provisions and released to God for His glory, our blessing, and the benefit of others. This life begins with a right relationship with God based on His unconditional love for us. The result of such a relationship is that His love overflows to those around us. A believer’s God-empowered life is the direct result of faith where the fear of scarcity is overcome resulting in giving boldly. Therefore, whole-life generosity is expressing the love of God in tangible ways out of love for Him and others.
In Luke 10 we discover an expert in Scripture asking Jesus a question. He asks: “What must I do to have eternal life.” Jesus responds by posing this question back to the man: “What is written in the Law?” The man answers: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Lk 10:27). Jesus declares that the man is correct. Jesus had taught all along that following Him was about loving God and loving others. In fact, our love for God is displayed by loving other people who have been made in His image in tangible ways.
As believers, we are citizens of heaven (see: Phil 3:20), we are also called to pray and do our part in seeing “God’s kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10). To be a citizen of heaven does not mean we are a mere tourist here on earth. When Paul wrote to the Philippians, he knew they understood what is meant to be a citizen. For instance, to be a citizen of Rome meant to carry the responsibilities of a colonist. It was the Roman citizen’s duty to transport the values of Rome where they lived. So, if you were a Roman citizen in Philippi, the goal was to transform Philippi into the image of Rome. When Paul spoke of believers as “citizens of heaven,” he was declaring the believer’s responsibility to cultivate the kingdom of heaven right where we live while praying: “God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Whole-life generosity is the result of God’s grace, His power acting in our lives to accomplish what we could never do with our own strength. Paul writes in Romans: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:2). As we continue in a saving relationship with God, we undergo a transformative process in which our minds begin to, in an ever-increasing way, think like Jesus, leading us to act like Jesus. We conform more to His character and His will, and the kind of generosity He modeled and have received from Him.
I promise that if you ask God to show you ways to be generous to others, He will answer that prayer. He will not just show you ways, but will also provide the resource, both financial and spiritual. As Paul writes: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Cor 9:8). God calls all of us to imitate Him by embodying whole-life generosity, a life expressing the love of God in tangible ways that glorify God, bless us, and benefit us.
What is your next step in your journey with God whole-life generosity? It is a privilege to serve with each of you. Let us encourage one another to take the steps God is calling us to make. Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)!