These days I was listening people sharing on the radio generous actions they usually do at the end of the year. It was pretty cool to hear such different ideas on how to do something good for someone else. On the commemorative dates of this time of the year, people are more proactive in help others and be generous.
That made me think about generosity and that we as God’s children need to love with actions all year long. So I decided to share with you a reflection on 3 points about generosity in John 3:16.
John 3:16 (NIV) – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
1) When you are generous you express God’s nature
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…”
In this passage we see that He so loved the world. The term “so” has the meaning of intensity. Then God’s intense love for us resulted in giving His son.
This makes clear that one of the forms of expression of God’s love is generosity. God’s nature is generous. In Him is contained all goodness.
2 Corinthians 8: 9 says: “…Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” Is there any purer concept of generosity than this? From someone who impoverishes to enrich others?
Our God is generous. When we are generous, we express His nature. And being generous is not about just doing some kindness, it’s about having a generous lifestyle. A lifestyle in which every day, as it says in Colossians 3:12, we are clothed with deep compassion and kindness.
So be always generous and express the character of the Father!
2) Do like God and always give your best!
“… he gave his one and only Son…”
God not only gave His son, but He gave His one and only Son. God delivered the best He had.
When God is generous to humanity, He always gives the best. In the garden of Eden God placed “trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food” (Gen 2: 9). There was beauty in God’s creation. Creation was good for the humanity. In Genesis it is repeated a few times about creation “and God saw that it was good.” He always gave us His best.
When you are generous to someone, give something that costs you, give something beautiful, give your best too! Be generous the way our Father is.
3) God’s generous love does not differentiate people
“…that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
God gives his son to whoever believes in him. There is no differentiation of people. Eternal life becomes accessible to everyone who believes.
We need to love everyone. Jesus throws the bar up and challenges us, as children of God, to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. (Matthew 5:44).
God Himself gave his son in sacrifice, that is, was generous with a dirty humanity, full of sins against Him.
And we so often have difficulty in being generous with someone we love. Sometimes we have difficulty in giving a quality time to someone in our own family.
Love with the love of the Father who does not differentiate people. Be generous to everyone!
Thank you for your reading! God bless and fill our hearts with this love that becomes practical through generosity.
