Last week, we talked about how followers of Christ are supposed to be generous and a couple of the examples we see of that in the Bible. We talked about just a few of the ways we can display generosity in our daily life. However, there is a second side to the generosity coin that perhaps doesn’t get talked about much. In order for a person to have the ability to be generous, there has to be someone ready to receive that generosity.
Giving to others? Sure, I’m happy to do what I can. Receiving from others? Well, I’ve got excuses why I can’t or shouldn’t do that:
- I don’t know when I can pay you back/return the favor.
- I don’t want to be an inconvenience/burden.
- It’s really not necessary
- I can do it myself.
Maybe there are other reasons you’ve given in the past. And, full transparency, I have 100% been guilty of this over the years. For some reason, this half of the conversation is much more uncomfortable. There may be a lot of reasons for that, but I think it boils down to one word.
Pride.
There could be other reasons. However, I imagine that pride would cover a large range of our excuses.
To see what the Bible has to say about pride, one has only to go to the Proverbs:
- When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. (11:2)
- One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. (29:23)
- Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. (16:18)
- Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. (18:12)
- Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. (26:12)
Be generous – yes, absolutely. Just remember to allow others to be generous and don’t let pride get in the way.
P.S. – To be clear: We shouldn’t be accepting generosity so as to take advantage of people (see Philippians 2:1-11; it talks about Christ’s example of selflessness, and gives us an encouragement about what our motivation should be). To do so doesn’t really reflect the idea of loving your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40).
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