Week 7 - Generosity
“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.”
March 29-April 4
It was March of 2012 when it was finally clear that God was calling us to leave everything behind and move to Mexico and plant a church. We had an eight-month-old baby and after attempting to buy a house and put down roots here in the U.S., God placed a heavy burden on our hearts for Mexico City.
In September 2012, I met with Pastor Bill for lunch to ask him questions about church planting. He gave me a lot of good advice during that lunch and a week or so later I was formally invited to do a church planting residency before leaving for Mexico City.
My wife and I had a huge desire and a clear calling, but we didn’t have the resources yet. But just like the verse promises us, God supplied and multiplied everything we needed to fulfill our calling. Eventually, God provided everything we needed through our RHC family and other Acts 29 churches in abundance.
But all of these blessings weren’t just for our own benefit. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in verse 11, our enrichment was for us to be generous in every way to the people of Mexico City. We were able to share the Gospel and resources with them, which resulted in many people coming to the feet of Jesus.
We tend to evaluate God’s blessings by what it produces in us, whether it be satisfaction or pleasure, but maybe a better way to evaluate them would be to see what they produce in others through us. We forget that God’s blessings are not supposed to end with us, but rather continue to produce thanksgiving to God in others. God has always promised to bless his people so that they will be a blessing to others, and that is exactly what generosity is. Generosity is allowing God’s blessings to flow through us towards others, so that His name be glorified through thanksgiving.
During this Lent season as you reflect and prepare for the coming of Easter, consider how you can allow your blessings to produce thanksgiving to God in the people around you. Remember and consider that everything you are, everything that you own, and everything you have accomplished comes from God alone. May that truth move you to generosity as a way of life.
Chuy Rodriguez
Questions to Ponder:
How has God provided for you?
When have you experienced the blessing of other people’s generosity?
What would radical generosity look like in your life?