7 Powerful Reasons for Growing in Generosity

Pastor and author John Ortberg tells about an experience he had with his daughter when she was little. It’s one of those cases where you think you’re teaching one thing, but it turns out maybe you taught something else.

He and his wife wanted to teach good stewardship and generosity to their kids so they used an envelope system. Some of you may be doing this with your kids as well. When they gave the kids an allowance, the kids would put it in envelopes labeled "Give," "Save," "Gifts," "Spend," and so on.

He thought it was working until one day he had a Band-Aid on his arm, and his daughter, who at that time was about six, asked about it.

He explained he had gotten a medical exam that day to get life insurance.

She asked, "What's that?"

He explained, "Well, Daddy loves you so much and loves the family so much, but if anything were to happen to Daddy, the insurance would provide for $250,000."

Immediately he realized this was a bit much for his daughter, this talk about dying. Her eyes got really wide. She had a tender heart, and he immediately knew this was going to stay with her and upset her.

But her response surprised him. Let’s just say their lessons on generosity weren’t hitting home.

I wonder how often God feels that way about us.

The Bible has a lot to say about money, even giving lots of wise advice on how to save and how to manage money well. But how often do we take that advice and miss what it has to say about generosity and the limited value of money and of what it can buy?

The Bible clearly teaches that If we place ultimate value on things of limited value, things of ultimate value will have limited value in our lives.

That’s a mistake that compounds over time.

And it’s a mistake that is easy to pass on to the next generation.

There are really powerful reasons for growing generous hearts, and that’s what we’ll be talking about this weekend as we look at 2 Corinthians 8-9.

Bring a friend.

Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash