40acts: The Lent Generosity ChallengeSample

 God asks us to be generous, willing and cheerful givers. This is all very well if we’ve got lots of disposable cash. If we haven’t, taking a deep breath and trusting that God knows what He’s doing is a big leap, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. 2 Corinthians 8:2–5 tells us about a group of people who gave above and beyond their means. Better yet, they wanted to do it, seeing it as a huge privilege. Overflowing joy plus extreme poverty equals rich generosity.

Sitting in church one day, I was listening to our vicar telling us that we needed to raise quite a chunk of money to pay the wages of our new youth worker. I had a vested interest in this, being the mother of three children, one of them a teenager.

Since becoming self-employed, I hadn’t exactly been overburdened with cash, so I was more than a little surprised at God’s leading. The conversation went like this.

Me: Oh Lord, guide me in this decision. 

God: You need to give really generously.

Me: OK, what sort of sum were you thinking of? 

God: Somewhere in the hundreds. Dig deep. 

Me: You’re an all-seeing God; you know the state of my bank account! Are you quite sure about this? 

God: Yep. Trust in me.

With shaking hands, I took a deep breath and wrote a cheque for an amount I really couldn’t afford. As I dropped it into the collection plate, I hung on to the words ‘trust in me’ as a drowning man clutches at nearby floating objects.

The cheque duly cleared. We hired the youth worker. He started transforming lives. I don’t know what effect his work and the work of our current youth worker will have in the long term. I don’t need to know either. I trusted and I gave more than I could afford because God asked me to.

All I needed to do was listen and obey.

________ 

Today, experience that sharp intake of breath as you decide to do something extravagantly generous. Maybe you’re getting used to that feeling this month. But what if this wasn’t just a one-off moment but an invitation into a sacrificial lifestyle? 

 Find more about today’s 40acts challenge on our blog:   

https://40acts.org.uk/act-30-yikes/