I am learning to be generous.  It is a process, not an easy one at that, and it seems to have lots of hurdles.  I have resources.  Maybe not as much as I think I should have to be generous, but I have them.  There in lies one of the biggest obstacles to generous living: I think I don't have enough to be generous.  I don't have enough time.  I don't have enough energy.  I don't have enough money.  I generally don't have enough. If I give my resources away too freely, then I will run out.  But the amount of our commodities is not the determining factor on whether we are to be generous or not.  We are all called, in scripture, to be generous. God will provide for our every need according to His riches in glory. (Philipians 4:19).  God will give me all I need to live a life of godliness  (2 Peter 1:3).  God is pleased when I give, not out of my abundnace, but out of my limited resources (Mark 12:41-44) God has blessed us, so that we can be a blessing. (Genesis 4:4).  God wants us to know that He is sufficient, that He is enough.

God wants me to know that He is enough.

I have a war constanty going on within me.  The inner battle of being a container or a conduit of His blessing.  My human nature tells me to hoard his blessings, to keep them to myself: to be a container.  My spirit tells me to give them away, to be a conduit of His blessings.

I use to sing a song when I was in Sunday School when I was a child.  It was written by Malvina Reynolds in 1949.  It's called The Magic Penny and the lyrics say:

Love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

It's just like a magic penny,
Hold it tight and you won't have any.
Lend it, spend it, and you'll have so many
They'll roll all over the floor.

I was reading the comments of the video of this song on youtube and someone said: “Spend it , lend it….you'll end up broke.”

The blessings of God don't work that way.  When we are generous, it breeds more generosity. Blessings flow!

I remember when my oldest daughter was a toddler we had gone shopping.  As we were checking out she grabbed a hold of a small roll of Tums in her little hands.  I told her to put them back, but she would have none of that.  She held it tight in her clutches and fell on the ground in a full tantrum.  I remembered standing over her and laughing at her passionate need for these antacid tablets.  I finally had to pry them out of her death grip and quickly left the store.

Sometimes I think that's what I must look like to God,  when I tightly holding onto things.  He is trying to teach me to loosen my grip and come to Him with open hands, to be a conduit of His blessings.

Generous Living Begins When We Bless People

Here are 5 simple ways to learn  how to bless people.

pj