God is generous. I know by making this one statement, I’ve probably managed to offend someone. The idea of a truly generous God is not very popular today. Many people will say that they believe in a giving and generous God, but when you dig a little deeper, you will find that those same people only have a superficial belief in the generosity of God – which is to say that they don’t really believe that He is generous at all. I have encountered quite a number of people who feel that they must beg God to give them things and barely scrape by in life, and even some who think that the more needy and poor they are, the more it gives God glory and keeps them holy and humble.
On the other side, I have encountered people who say that God could not possibly be generous, because He wants to “test and try us” or “teach us lessons”, and then there are those think that God would just be some kind of magical genie, and so they oppose His generosity on those grounds. So what I want to share with you today, what the scriptures say about God’s generosity, and what He says about Himself.
Have you ever started a project and then left it unfinished? I have. In today’s hectic modern lifestyle where everything is competing for our attention, I sometimes find myself starting one thing, getting distracted – sometimes for hours – and then remembering that I left the task I began still unfinished at the end of the day. Even if you’ve never done that yourself, you have probably had someone else do that to you at one time or another; and it can be disheartening, frustrating and disruptive.
Sometimes, leaving a project or task unfinished is unavoidable for us. However it is not so with God. Many of us unconsciously project this same trait onto our Heavenly Father. We assume based on our own experience with others and ourselves that God will also leave some of His tasks unfinished – this can subconsciously create fear, worry and anxiety, because we may start to wonder “Will God actually do this? Will He really bring about what He promised?” However, by seeing the truth of Christ, we can be set free from this anxiety, knowing that He who promised is faithful, and this is what we will be studying today.
God is generous. He goes above and beyond even our wildest expectations when given the opportunity. We often have trouble believing this about God though. A typical thought that I hear people say is that 'if God is so generous, why doesn't He give me more?', however this question exposes a failure to see the true character and nature of God. We have been indoctrinated with an idea that God is sitting up in Heaven demanding to be served and that He must be properly pleased or entreated before He doles out rewards, and even then you had better not expect much!
However this is a totally inaccurate idea and view of God. God is not up in Heaven demanding to be served; He is instead closer than you even realize, and instead of demanding to be served, He is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to serve you! Can you believe that? The God of the universe, has actually willingly taken the position of service, for your benefit – and He actually becomes a gainer of glory by serving you! This is what we will be taking a look at today. How God serves, how you can receive it, and what the truth about God's generosity really is.