Generosity like King David
/By: Rev Wendy Pawsey
In this article, Wendy Pawsey explores the blessings of generosity and what it means to give and receive generously. How has God instructed us to act with generosity? And how can we increase our generosity to receive more in return?
My life for the last twenty-five years has been immersed in the world of finance. I am often asked by those in positions of leadership how they can create a culture of openness around generous giving.
This is a fantastic question, as until recently, three topics were socially unacceptable to talk about: weight, politics, or anything to do with personal finance. With body acceptance now a social norm, and politics rarely being out of the news, it could be argued the last taboo subject is money. In this article, we will address this last taboo and dip our toe into how we create an openness around financial generosity.
To help us do this, let’s look at an example of generosity.
When we look around, there are (thankfully!) many people operating in the gift of generosity (Romans 12:8) and the exciting news is that there are no limitations on who can participate. What is generous to one person could be loose change to another, but for the recipient it is the sign of a miracle and tangible proof of God’s love.
A broad overview of financial generosity could be described as the willingness to share what we have freely. For those in a position of leadership or influence, I would enlarge this description to include the word ‘openly,’ as the recent Stewardship Generosity Report showed that those who discuss their giving tend to give more; in this and many other areas leaders shape culture.
We see this in 1 Chronicles 29:2-5 when King David tells those assembled:
‘With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colours, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen...’
Then issues the challenge: ‘...Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the LORD today?’
He led from the front, the challenge was big and so was the response as those assembled responded positively and publicly.
Generosity breeds generosity
It is contagious, and I pray we all catch it.
It is incredibly powerful when people share stories of giving generously, as it inspires others by providing a glimpse into a different way to live and another way to serve God. The end goal of our generosity should always be for other people to see the glory, majesty, and love of our heavenly Father. With the right exposure and in the correct conditions, generosity often spreads and infects others, which has the potential to impact individuals, churches, communities, counties, even a nation for the glory of God. That’s something I want to be part of!
Generosity even has the potential to impact us. In our efforts to be generous givers, moving beyond our comfort zone and sharing more than just our excess, we demonstrate and deepen our trust in God to provide for our need.
I hope that we all know the verse ‘God loves a cheerful giver’ (2 Corinthians 9:7), and my prayer is any changes you make to your personal giving, or any influence you exert in this area for the charity, organisation or church you represent, will be done wholeheartedly and joyfully.
Together, united and moving in the will of God
Every week, from Monday to Friday, I am in contact with many people whose amazing financial generosity – exceeding their tithe – shapes nations. That is radical. That is godly generosity.
At the weekend, I spend time as an ordained minister with a group of Christians who, through godly generosity, are slowly but surely claiming their community for Jesus. Could both groups do more? Probably, but that’s between them and God. What’s important is that we start moving in the right direction.
The Stewardship Generosity Report also tells us that the average UK Christian gives only 2.5% of their monthly income to a Christian church or charity. This stands in contention with the results of a survey I conducted for a book I’ve just written, that showed 79% believed tithing was still relevant, with the average self-assessed generosity score (1 being low, 10 being high) being 7.32.
Imagine for a moment what the world could be like if we eradicated the taboo surrounding personal finance, and all embraced a lifestyle of abundant generosity, openly sharing with those we influence?
The difference to society if every Christian in the UK tithed and everyone operated at a self-assessed generosity score of 10. Think of the churches that could be planted, the charities that could be founded and the lives that could be transformed. It would be world-changing!
I believe with all my heart that God wants us to live a financially generous life, a life that he can favour, a life that worships him and shows his worth through blessing others and moving closer to him. A life that repeatedly, and without reserve, responds to the cry of King David:
‘Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the LORD today?’
Rev Wendy Pawsey
Reverend Wendy Pawsey’s book, Generous with a Capital G, can be purchased as part of The Big Church Read from St Andrews Bookshop, or alternatively from Waterstones, Eden or Amazon.
