As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, I’m co-teaching a class on the Gospel of Luke for the congregation my wife and I are a part of. Last week, one of my co-teachers made a comment that really bears repeating…
We were in Luke 16, talking about the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (v.19-31). In the story, there was a rich man with expensive clothes who gave lavish feasts. Then, there was Lazarus – a poor man, covered in sores and lying at the rich man’s gate. He was so desperate, the Bible tells us “He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table…” (Luke 16:21). So, we have one man in a dire situation and another in a position to do something about it.
Eventually, both men die. Lazarus is carried away to Abraham’s side (Luke 16:22) while the rich man ends up in torment in Hades (Luke 16:23). The rich man cries out to Abraham begging for relief. Abraham responds:
Son…remember that during your life you received your good things, just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony. (Luke 16:25)
In the end, the good things the rich man had on earth did nothing to comfort him because he did nothing with them. A giving heart doesn’t come from having more things.
I recently wrote about the biblical instruction and examples we see about the importance of being generous. And I think sometimes, we say to ourselves “It will be easier to be generous when I have more to give.” It might be. But biblical generosity doesn’t come with a minimum net worth (see the story of the widow bringing her offering at the temple in Luke 21:1-4). It comes from a mindset. God doesn’t tell us to be generous when we become rich. He doesn’t tell us to be generous when we have time. He simply tells us to be generous.
My wife and I had family in town recently. During a dinner conversation, my sister-in-law asked my nieces what they had learned from a particular lesson they recently heard on the topic of hospitality (something very closely linked to generosity). My 12-year-old niece responded, “You don’t have to have the nicest or the biggest house to be hospitable. You can be hospitable with what you have.”
Generosity is not about what you have – it’s about how you use what you have and the heart with which you do it.
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