Refreshing generosity
Generosity is a biblical theme. In the first chapter of Genesis God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures'. So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems. And God saw that it was good.
Only in the last 50 years or so, through film and television, have we begun to glimpse just what 'teeming' means. It's not just the sea, but the plant life of South American jungles, the herds on African plains and Alpine flower meadows. There is infinite variety and profligate amounts of - well, tadpoles, acorns and orchids, for example. This is abundant enriching generosity, an immense creative joy, almost a sense of fun in thinking it all up and them making it - free gifts to us, the stewards of the earth.
This is our God. We are made in his image and we are called, as disciples, to grow his character. Can we be as generous too? Jesus said, 'Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you' (Luke 6:38). In a hurried, crowded and pressured world we are tempted to guard our spaces, our relationships, our privacy and our time. We can be impoverished by a grudging meanness. Can we be generous enough to give more money, time and love than we are actually asked to give? Generous with praise and affirmation? Generous with laughter, jokes and creative enjoyment?
Grace is the name for the overwhelming undeserved love of God in Jesus Christ. If we have experienced grace, then our response should be an open-hearted gratitude that makes us generous Like mercy, it is twice blessed, blessing him that gives and him that takes. And generous generosity is very attractive.
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