Daily Dose #13 (Monday, March 30, 2020)
Good morning church family and welcome to Daily Dose Episode #13 for Monday, March 30, 2020. I hope that your weekend was encouraging and that you had time to pause and enjoy a Sabbath rest with family yesterday.
Today I want to think about what a generous mindset looks like compared to a mindset of scarcity. We have talked about having a generous mindset before, and we know we are called to live this way as followers of Jesus. But what does a generous mindset look like in times of scarcity (or perceived scarcity)?
I can honestly say that over the previous 2-3 weeks as I have ventured to the grocery stores and observed bare shelves – first starting with toilet paper, and then spreading to other items like flour, sugar, pasta, canned goods, meat, produce and dairy items – more than one time I remarked to myself that in my entire life I have never seen anything like this in Canada.
And to be honest, there were moments when fear reared its ugly head and I asked myself questions like this:
· What if there isn’t enough for my family and I?
· What if things don’t turn around (as they are promising) and the supply chain does experience problems?
· What if we run out of (fill in the blank with whatever was on my mind – or whatever empty shelf I was looking at in the moment)?
· What if…...?
· What if……?
These questions are driven by fear and by God’s enemy, the devil! I made the conscious choice to not allow my mind to linger in those thoughts too long – for I know the promises God has for us, and I know how He has called us to live as His followers. A promise of God that has been very dear to me for my entire adult life is Philippians 4:19 – “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” God has promised to provide the things we need, and He has never, ever, been short in my life – and He’s not about to start now!
But beyond that, beyond trusting God for His provision in my life and the life of my family, God has also called me to live different than the world around me. I don’t need to hoard because God has promised to provide for me – but I also don’t need to hoard because God has called me to live with a generous mindset, not a mindset of scarcity.
Listen to what God’s Word says to us from a few texts in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. In 2 Corinthians 8:1-3 we read the following – “And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own.”
Paul is reminding the church in Corinth of the example of the church in Macedonia. Not only were they generous, but they were generous in the midst of “the most severe trial.” Not only were they generous, but “their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” Paul says that they “gave as much as they were able,” and even gave “beyond their ability.”
As we enter into a time of economic uncertainty, do we have generous hearts and hands? In times of possible scarcity, are we living as children of our loving King who has promised to provide for us so that we can live generous lives? Or are we living with fear and uncertainty and turning from generosity to scarcity?
Paul goes on in the next chapter, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15, to tell us about generosity yet a bit more. This is what we read – “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:
“He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
A few quick things we learn again here about generosity vs. scarcity:
· We reap what we sow (if we sow generosity, we reap generosity – if we sow scarcity, we reap scarcity) (vs. 6).
· We should be generous, and we should live this way with cheerful hearts (vs. 7).
· God again reminds us that at all times He will provide us with the things we need to do the good works He has called us to do (vs. 8).
· God will provide for us so that we can live with a generous mindset all the time (vs. 11).
· Our generous mindset will lead others to give thanks to God (vs. 11-15).
And so, as we face uncertain times (only God knows how things will play out in this current reality), my challenge is for us as a church family to never waver from our commitment, as individuals and as a church family, to live as people who overflow with generosity. When you feel the enemy tempting you to believe in the scarcity mindset (that I better get mine because there might not be enough), then I invite you to come back to God’s promises in His Word – both in Philippians 4 and 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 – and renew your commitment to be a person of generosity.
Are you tempted to hoard right now? Is there someone in your life with whom you need to share something with? Who could benefit from your generosity right now – today?