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True biblical generosity is a transformative experience for both the giver and the recipient. In this episode, Gary Wilkerson and Joshua West explore the ways that generosity has been warped and misunderstood by both popular culture and sometimes even the church. They also dive into how the Bible actually defines being generous and how much bigger God’s picture of giving is than our narrow definition. Our Lord’s commands for generosity are freeing and a blessing to those who obey.
Key Points from the Podcast
• Generosity encompasses far more than giving away money. It includes all of our resources and does not necessarily mean that we’re giving out of our own excess. Often the greatest acts of generosity come from an area where we don’t have a lot.
• Often church culture has co-opted generosity as a well to coerce others into giving things to us that we want. The prosperity gospel or even works-based Christianity is often based out of this false mentality.
• God says that he blesses the giver and will give more to the good steward. However, if we give with those facts as our motivation, it reveals that we want those things more than simply obeying God’s commands to care for others.
• Some people may not be stingy with money but are incredibly miserly with their time, attention or talents. When a certain commodity is scarce, that is often where we can see if we’re actually generous or not.
• The remedy to anxiety is generosity. Being generous frees us from our dependencies on things other than God, things that will inevitably fail us because they are not God.
• There’s an element of truth to the adage that you can’t be healthy and thriving in any area of life until you’re also giving to others out of that area of your life. We’re not meant to be stagnant ponds; we’re meant to be flowing rivers.
• Refusing to be generous is actually robbing ourselves of true comfort and blessings.
Bible Verses Referenced in this Podcast
Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:25, Matthew 6:19, Acts 4:32-37
About Joshua West
Joshua West serves as the Pastors Network Director at World Challenge helping equip and empower pastors all over the world. Joshua’s desire is to raise up ministers who will correctly and boldly preach the word with passion and integrity. The point of all his work and writings is to preach the gospel, glorify God and to teach sound doctrine.