The Discipline of Generosity

Two previous posts - on Gratitude and on Stewardship - lead to today's on the discipline of generosity. Generosity flows out of a glad heart, a world-view of abundance, and trust in God’s providence rather than the fear of scarcity and a spirit of greed.

Generosity is the responsive overflow of people who have experienced the goodness and extravagance of God.

Psalm 145 celebrates God’s generosity and compassion towards all creation,

The LORD is good to everyone.

He showers compassion on all his creation. (verse 9)

So God provides a rich exemplary model for us who can reflect God’s image. If God and nature have been lavish towards me, I should learn to extend this ethic of grace around and beyond me.

Jesus teaches us to be generous even with our enemies – as God is generous in giving rain to the wicked as well as his friends. Is there any other way we might expect the hoarding instinct to reverse itself? As Jesus said, “you have been treated generously, so live generously (Matthew 10:8 MSG).

In the bilical record, Abraham, Rebekah, Joseph, Boaz, Mary, David and Barnabas all modeled a spirit of generosity. Jesus’ generous water-to-wine miracle in Cana is echoed in his feeding the multitudes, modeling an ethic of lavish generosity – even extravagance – which is evident in all God’s works.

I’ve just finished reading Tending to Eden by Scott Sabin who directs a reforestation ministry called Plant With Purpose. Sabin quotes environmentalist Dr. Calvin De Witt saying,
“Good stewards return the gifts of creation with gifts of their own. A good steward is a ‘caretaker’, not just a ‘taker’. The good steward is a planter of trees not merely a cutter of trees.” Tending to Eden, p.38.

Here’s a clip from the Plant With Purpose web-site describing their work in Oaxaco, Mexico where subsistence farmers supplement their meagre incomes by selling cut trees as fuel wood.

"Rampant tree cutting has left entire hillsides desolate and barren. Subsequent erosion and loss of soil fertility has further entrenched farmers in a vicious cycle of poverty and deforestation. Plant With Purpose breaks the cycle by creating opportunities for income that are environmentally sustainable. With our innovative agroforestry training, we’ve helped 58 communities to improve the fertility and production capacity of their plots to make better use of the limited space available for growing food."

The discipline of generosity teaches us to give back as creatively as we know how wherever the need happens to be.

Image Sources:
Grapes - Trip Advisor
Tending to Eden - Plant With Purpose
Agro-forestry - Marco Schmidt - Wikipedia Commons

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