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Generosity and Hospitality
“You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:11).
Your faith needs an outlet through which to express itself and this outlet is love. But if faith expresses itself through love, then love expresses itself through generosity. When faith, love and generosity are perfectly synchronised the character of God is revealed. But if you do not have one then other two cannot function correctly.
Generosity is not just a sacrificial act, nor an expression of one's wealth, but rather, it is the will of God for every believer. According to 2 Corinthians 8:5, you ought to first, generously give yourself to the Lord and then generously give to someone else. To excel and abound in this grace of giving is as important as any other area in which you display passion, and for which you can be commended. The key issue, when being generous, is having a sincere desire to give, and not necessarily the amount given.
"Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God" (2 Corinthians 9:10, 11). The Greek word for “supply” is very interesting as it means 'to supply fully or abundantly', 'to generously provide what is needed', or 'to cover the costs completely'. Therefore, this verse may easily read, "Now may He who generously provides what is needed and covers the costs completely, and who fully and abundantly provides seed to the sower and bread for food; may He also fully supply and freely multiply the seed you have sown."
God generously supplies two things - seed and bread! The seed is meant to be sown, and consequently it is freely multiplied back, but the bread is just for eating. Many Christians have never seen the significance of this verse. You have no right to eat your seed and its impossible to sow your food. Therefore, you must ask God, who is the supplier of both, to show you which part of His provision is meant for sowing and which part is meant for eating.
Once your seed is sown, which represents your generosity, only then does God freely multiply and increase the fruits of your righteousness (love, joy, peace, etc.). Therefore, generosity leads to maturity! When you increase in generosity you also increase spiritually. And, these two things occur while you are being enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving to God.
Consequently, there is a specific process which follows any act of true generosity. Generosity accelerates spiritual maturity and this in turn leads to liberality. The Greek word translated liberality is literally 'a singleness of heart'. Therefore, as you mature you are in fact being enriched in everything in order to produce a singleness of heart. But where is this singleness of heart directed? You become single-minded and single-hearted about your giving - about being a blessing to everyone!
So then, faith expresses itself through love, and love expresses itself through generosity. But generosity expresses itself through hospitality. “Share (be generous) with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality” (Romans 12:13). “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9).
Great man and women of faith are to be remembered, not only for their celebrated exploits for God, but also for their love, generosity and hospitality.
The seasons of your life will change for the better every time you decide to allow your faith to express itself through love, and allow your love to express itself through generosity, and then allow your generosity express itself through hospitality. |
Chris Demetriou, 04/03/2007 |
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