How has God been generous with you? Many divine interventions and personal provisions may come to mind, and praise God for those! But doesn’t Christmas remind us of His generosity to the whole world?
That was the announcement of the angels on the very first Christmas day:
Luke 2:10, 14 (ESV) 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
God the Father gave His Son, Jesus, as a sacrifice for our souls. Jesus subjected Himself to the limitations and pain of this world so that He could seek and save sinners (that’s you and me and everybody else) from the wages of our sins.
His generosity speaks love and wisdom to a world that avoids sacrifice and giving. You can hear us say, “That’s far too high a cost.” But you don’t hear that from heaven. Instead, we hear “For God so loved the world that He gave...”
And what is our response?
Do we say, “thank you,” and return back to our “it is better to receive than to give” lives?
NO WAY!
When we experience His extravagant generosity, our hearts are transformed! And it is out of that transformed heart that we have the opportunity (better yet, the honor) of being truly generous.
God’s generosity was never meant to stop at the recipient.
I’m looking forward to this January as we look through the Scriptures about the habit of Generosity. It has the power to not only change your life, but the lives of people around you.
I pray you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I love you, Grace.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jack