7 Days To Becoming A More Generous Personናሙና

Generous with our possessions.

The world asks, “What does a man own?” Christ asks, “How does He use it?” — Andrew Murray

As Christ followers one of the things that deceives us is thinking that the earth is our home. It’s not. We were made for Heaven. We all want to spend our eternity in Heaven, but if we’re honest, we don’t really want to die in order to get there. So, we stockpile experiences, possessions, and money while we are in our temporary lodging in an attempt to make it feel like home. When we do, our heart’s devotion goes astray. This prevents us from living generous lives. 

In the Bible, Jesus spoke in parables 39 times. Eleven of them were about money and possessions — almost one-third of His parables. Clearly, Jesus knew this would always be an issue that we would struggle with. The pull of material possessions on our hearts is strong. We ask God to bless us and then when he does, we take that blessing and we make it our God. And when Christ returns to earth one day, every single possession we own and amount of money we have will automatically amount to nothing.

We are told in the sixth chapter of Matthew not to store up treasures on earth but instead, to store up treasures in heaven. Jesus said that our heart will be where our treasure is. Just how much of our lives are we wasting pursuing earthly possessions?

Chances are that we all have plenty of things in our lives that we can part with. One in eleven Americans pay over $90 for a storage unit each month. (1) We are storing more things than ever and the storage unit industry has gone well into the billions of dollars. What is the remedy for our battle with materialism? Giving. 

Whether we have a storage unit or not, we have many possessions that can be shared with those in need. We probably have plenty of items that we can give away. 

• Used clothing and shoes
• Previously read books
• Kitchen supplies
• Jewelry
• Electronics
• Unused furniture
• Home décor 
• Food
• Household appliances
• A car

Today is a great day to begin going through our possessions with someone else in mind. Those items that we think we might use or might wear could be the answer to someone’s prayer. Not only will removing the clutter bring freedom, but we will have the chance to bless someone else with something that is merely taking up space in our lives and homes. 

Reflect

• Do an inventory on your heart. Do you own your possessions or do your possessions own you?
• For the next three weeks, find five things each day that you can give away to someone else. 

(1) Source: https://www.curbed.com/2018/3/27/17168088/cheap-storage-warehouse-self-storage-real-estate