Generosity
In his book, Generous Living, author Ron Blue states that "The amount of money you have has nothing to do with financial security or contentment. Neither can satisfaction be found in wise investments, careful budgets, or debt-free living. Instead, the secret to financial freedom and joy is directly linked to one thing: the willingness to be generous with what you have."
One of the key characteristics "living life as though Jesus were living through us" is whether or not we possess our Father's attribute of generosity.
Being Generous with our time, gifts and resources is a key indicator to ours love for God, others and Life. The management of our finances has little to do with our financial security, investments, or disposable income but rather the state of our spiritual relationship with God. Our generosity is paramount to our ability to live life as though Jesus were living through us. The Message version of 2 Corinthians 9:10-11 says it perfectly:
“This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.”
When we reflect and ask the question, "What does it look like if we truly love God?" one cannot overlook one of our Father’s attributes - the attribute of generosity (“this most generous God” vs. 9). Our ability to live a life of generosity is essential to the accomplishment of our mission and must be developed in the lives of our fellowship.The following is a spiritual formation model of growth for our fellowship that will challenge those who call Harvest home to evaluate their phase of generosity at any given time.