A GENEROUS MAN - PART 8

THURSDAY 26 DECEMBER 2024

Any generous person functioning in godly wisdom must learn to acknowledge and appreciate the source of all generosity, and that is the Almighty God. To instantiate this verity, in his prayer of blessing, David said, "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand" (1st Chronicles 29:14 NIV).

The extraordinary attention King David gave to God in the aforementioned versified statement involves - discerningly attending to an appreciative stimulus that displays  "heartfelt gratitude to God" in the realm of generosity. So David and his people were able to give as munificently as they did because they had a fixed inward awareness that denotes apt shrewdness, passionate acuity and judicious recognition of their reliance on God in that realm of generosity - which furnished them with the incumbent occasion to admit the existence of the main Source of the gifts and oblation they had offered. More below!

Reference: Isaiah 32:8 New King James Version (NKJV)

"But a generous man devises generous things, And by generosity he shall stand."

The two intrinsic segments apparently expressed in the above versified reference are:

1. A generous man devises generous things (inwardly intended generosity).

2. And by generosity he shall stand (outwardly applied generosity).

Both of them should go pari passu or with equal force, although they have differing "non-overlapping" domains, which means that the first segment (intended generosity) has to do with mental faculty, where invisible "decision-making" conclusion - capable of reflection - is carried out, while the second segment (applied generosity) has to do with "when the ability to observe and practicalize the devised generosity" is in behavioural operation, characterised by visible and action-based application. Are you with me?

So we must frequently endeavour to give external form to inwardly intended generosity. Simply put, do and act virtuously, especially by helping others in need of your generosity, or make a helpful contribution to change, improve or upgrade their situation in reality - in accordance with that which you have mentally imagined.

How does this apply to a Christmas celebration? Love is a foundational attribute of God's character and a central theme in Scripture, but humanity may not see God's love, except it is tangibly demonstrated. To that effect, the Bible says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 KJV). I also want us to acknowledge the manner in which the New Living Translation stated it: "For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son..."

Beloved, no matter how much you've heard that God so much loved the world, if Jesus Christ did not manifest on earth in human flesh, God's love would somehow mean nothing but a divine abstraction. But thanks be unto God that He demonstrated His own love for us this way - Galatians 4:4 reading: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman..." (ESV).

Generosity is most effective and results-oriented when it is done, applied or carried out by faith-inspired action as demonstrated by God in the success of Jesus' birth and His purposeful disclosure or materialization in the world of humanity, meaning that there was no form of miscarriage in the entirety of the externalised process, as it relates to God's pre-decided purpose in the earthly fulfilment of His generosity-inspired mission, on behalf of mankind through the Lord Jesus Christ. Stay tuned for part 9. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Deuteronomy 16:17; Matthew 6:19-21; Acts 20:35; Hebrews 13:16.

Exuberant Declaration:

I have and sustain the personal responsibility to live out and exert my generosity to people in my world according to God's standard. Hallelujah!