How Jesus' Generosity Affected His Life |
Mar 4, 2010 |
A ministry leader friend of mine (thanks Darrell! @ www.aimright.org) recently gave me Gordon MacDonald’s four-week devotional study entitled, generosity: moving toward life that is truly life (check it out here). As I’ve been reading and reflecting, I am more convinced than ever before that Jesus was the most generous person who ever lived.
To the question at the end of Day 3: What are some examples of how Jesus modeled generosity to His followers? I wrote the following:
“Jesus was generous in countless ways. He was generous with his time to his inner-circle disciples and always to the people he was trying to reach and restore. Jesus was generous with his love and grace. Neither had any limits. He was generous with his patience, never judging wrongly. Jesus was generous with resources. (It’s interesting to me that he didn’t provide just enough fish and bread for the five thousand; he provided more than enough.) Jesus was generous with his power and ability, always willing to save and heal. Interestingly, though, Jesus was not generous toward religious people who were not generous toward others.”
And the list could go on...
Here’s what I’m wondering… Maybe Jesus wasn’t generous because he was Jesus. Maybe Jesus was Jesus because he was generous.
I (and we at the Mission Increase Foundation) believe that giving, more than anything, changes the giver. And remember, when Jesus walked planet earth, he was human – and God at the same time – but he was human, just like you and me. So is it too far-fetched to think that Jesus’ generosity toward others helped him grow and develop and become the person after God’s own heart that he truly was?
I don’t think so.
When we think of Jesus’ journey, we usually think of his dying on the cross. But know this – the cross was not an isolated incident. It was the culmination of an entire generous life lived for others.
Jesus came and lived the most generous life possible for the sake of others, and now we’re called to live the most generous lives possible for the sake of others.
Or in the disciple John's words...
“Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” (I John 2:6)
