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“Generosity is decidedly irreligious, springing up spontaneously and with great effect in pagan and priest alike. So to be generous is not to be Christian. But to be Christian is to be generous…Christian faith awakens or gives birth to good works. The idea that a Christian, a follower of Jesus, can exist without being or becoming generous is incongruous; it’s incomaptible with Scripture; it’s also an affront to the Holy Spirit who indwells and empowers those who believe.“ (Thomas Ward in his post on ”Generosity Again“)

It seems to me that Thomas is correct in his judgement. Generosity is not contained within one ethnic, religious or social group. However, the Bible does seem to hold the message that Faith is truly evidenced in our works.

I recently heard a story of a guy who was out collecting money for a particular organisation. He came to a street where the houses were obviously poor. He knocked on the door of one place, and was greeted by a man with a beer belly, and shorts! The collector could see their place did not have much.
He excused himself saying it didn’t matter – you look like you don’t have too much. At this the man replied that it was not as if they were so poor they can’t afford to give something to those who have less! He then dug into his pocket, found some money and placed it in the bucket.
When the collector got into the rich area, he discovered that they were just not bothered!!

I find that story both joyful and saddening. Perhaps such an event demonstrates for us why it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God?!

In 2 Corinthians, Paul, even though dealing with a tense relation situation between the Corinthian church and himself, calls for them to be generous in giving, using the example of the churches in Macedonia, he says “…for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part…” 2 Cor 8:2
Affliction + Abundant joy + Extreme poverty = Overflowing generosity

Now I am no scientist or mathematician but this equation looks somewhat odd! How can affliction, joy and poverty link together to overflow into generosity? Perhaps true Christian generosity is not seen in the abundance of wealth, but in an outpouring of generosity that is not bound by political, economic or cultural constraints. In 2 Corinthians Paul is addressing a financial situation, but I believe this equation holds true in other areas of our lives.

Thomas Ward in another post on Generosity comments:
A generous person is engaged in a lifestyle that subverts selfishness, that diminishes the Objectivism of Ayn Rand, that amplifies the acumen of Jesus. When generosity is reduced to a donation it loses it’s holism and is greatly diminished, truncated before it ever has a chance to take root. When our idea of generosity is one-dimensional, concerned only with money, then it leaves room for generosity’s chief nemesis, solipsism, to manifest in other areas of our lives.“ (Generosity Reloaded)

I agree with him. Generosity is a subversive lifestyle, one that goes against the grain in a sort of unhanded way. It smacks in the face of Solipism, our self-indulgent living. The message of Jesus, and subsequently of the New Testament writers is radical, defining generosity in terms beyond that of monetary equations.
This gives me great hope in the current situations I find myself in. That even though I may have few riches according to society, I can be rich, that is generous in and through my lifestyle!

Related posts:

1. God's Economy – Generosity (part 2)
2. God's Economy – Generosity (Part 3) It's in your jeans…I mean Genes!
3. In God's Economy – Generosity (part 1)
4. In God's Economy – Generosity
5. In God's Economy…