Be Generous
I recently completed facilitating Financial Peace University taught by Dave Ramsey. My wife and I had been through this class during the Great Recession in 2009. I had the chance to facilitate at our church twice this year. I am still processing much of what was in the last session. We changed the way we dealt with money starting back in 2009. We have been moving our way through the baby steps to wipe out all our debt so that we can save and give. Dave’s teaching on giving was fantastic. He challenged us to be generous givers and not hoarders. I was really blessed when he held out his hand and put money in his hand. He said if I hold it too tight and don’t give, no money can get out of my hand, but holding money too tightly means no more can come in either. Generosity is a two-way street for sure.
When I read these few verses in Proverbs this morning, I was reminded to hold on to my money loosely – with an open hand. More can get out, but more can come in as the Lord blesses. Check this out….
24 Give freely and become more wealthy;
be stingy and lose everything.
25 The generous will prosper;
those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
18 Evil people get rich for the moment,
but the reward of the godly will last. (Proverbs 11:24-25,18 NLT)
Generous people are listeners.
Generous people are humble.
Generous people are givers.
Generous people serve others.
Generous people know Whose they are.
Generous people are called to give.
Generous people are more blessed when they give than when they receive.
Generous people know just how generous God can be, because they experienced that first-hand.
Generous people have proper perspective – it all comes from the Lord.
I’m so thankful for the blessing of God upon my family. I’m thankful for my wife. I’m thankful for my children and their families. I am thankful for the heritage of faith, love and work that was passed down to me through my family heritage. I want to grow in my ability to be generous with my time, gifts and money. I want to “hold loosely” to each of these to allow God to do more than I could ever dream or imagine.
Pressing On!
Dwayne