Living GenerouslySýnishorn

Generosity Webs

God’s generosity is woven through history and creation and is at the heart of the gospel and our ministry as God’s Church. To live a generous life isn’t some useful side-interest; it’s intrinsic to our faith. Paul explains to the Corinthians that their generosity, ‘not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. Through the testing of this ministry, you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others…’ (2 Corinthians 9:12-13)

We’ve seen how Mary was generous with her time, attention, wealth, talent, possessions, comfort, and with how people perceived her, when she anointed Jesus’ feet. We’ve also seen that generosity is a spiritual gift, and we can ask God to give it to us. It can be difficult to live generously because it often means choosing differently from those around us and standing against some of the ways people expect us to live. It really helps to see generous living as a collective – not individual – pursuit, in which we encourage one other as we figure it out. If you’re not part of a generous local community who inspires you to be generous too, think about your next step in finding one.

We’ve developed a tool – the generosity web – to help us reflect on the seven generosities Mary displays. This doesn’t measure how ‘good’ we are at being generous, just how comfortable we are being generous in these different ways. It’s helpful to be aware of which ones we struggle with and why. Spend some time drafting your generosity web by (1) marking on a scale of 1-10 how comfortable you are with each generosity, (2) plotting those numbers on a graph, and (3) connecting the dots to form your generosity web. Which of the generosities do you struggle with most? Do you know why you struggle? Is God showing you a way forward in this area?

Thankfully, we can become more comfortable with all the generosities through practice. And if some of them seem too difficult, and you don’t know how you can ever get more comfortable living them out, there’s good news. God’s grace is sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9), and we don’t have to be generous in our own strength because generosity is a gift. We’re completely dependent on God to give us what we need to be generous.

To live a generous life is to be liberated from thinking everything is ours, under our control, and part of our identity. May we grow to see ourselves instead as receivers of incredible, divine generosity – and the privilege, joy and responsibility that brings. We don’t grow unless we face our discomforts. May we be brave enough to explore our comfort (or not) with the seven types of generosity we’ve learned about, so that we might be set free to become more like our generous God.

This plan was adapted from the series, Living Generously, on RightNow Media. To find out more, visit: https://www.rightnowmedia.org/uk/get-access