In the book Kings Cross, author Timothy Keller retold the story about the rich young ruler who asked Jesus what else he needed to do to have eternal life. The question itself was interesting. The young ruler had already done all he could do based on rules, but still felt empty. Jesus knew exactly how the young man felt, for Jesus had also left the riches of heaven and given it up to become poor – to be here on earth, talking to people like this rich young ruler. Jesus did it out of obedience to the Father. And Jesus tells the young man, “Sell all you have and then come to me.”
The gist of the whole encounter was that nothing should come between God and us. That’s money and anything that takes the place of God in our lives.
I love the quote in the book: “When money becomes more a scorecard than a tool, we are in trouble.”
One reason we need to be generous is that it helps us keep God first in our hearts and lives.
Randy Alcorn had a great illustration in his book, The Treasure Principle. Suppose a person buys an expensive gift and delivers it to its intended recipient through the FedEx guy. A week later, he calls the intended recipient to see how they enjoyed the gift. To his surprise, they never received it. He calls FedEx, tracks down the driver, and is astonished to find out that the driver had the gift and was enjoying it himself. Randy goes on to state the obvious: The gifts we have from the Lord are intended to be passed along. We are the FedEx driver, entrusted with blessings that need to be delivered to others. That’s our job.
To become generous with money, we need to realize the following:
- Money is a tool.
- It all belongs to God.
- Generosity creates beauty.
- Generosity changes us.
- Generous giving can be powerful in the kingdom.
- Generosity is fun.
Don’t wait to become generous. Now is the best time to begin. Be generous today.
