{"id":208,"date":"2019-08-03T14:20:42","date_gmt":"2019-08-03T14:20:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/?p=208"},"modified":"2019-08-03T14:20:42","modified_gmt":"2019-08-03T14:20:42","slug":"generosity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/2019\/08\/03\/generosity\/","title":{"rendered":"Generosity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Generosity is a word that literally means \u201cof noble birth\u201d\nfrom the Latin \u201cgener\u014dsus.\u201d Yes, this also has the same root as most of our\nEnglish \u201cgen\u201d words, like genesis, generate, gender, genital, genus, genius\u2026\netc. Historically, the word was used to identify a person\u2019s background or\nlineage \u2013 a generous person, by definition, came from a well-known, respected,\npowerful, and wealthy family. The label really had nothing to do with the\nperson\u2019s charity or compassion as it does today. In fact, stingy, generous people were likely commonplace<\/strong>.  It was in the late 1600\u2019s when \u201cnobility\u201d was\nstarting to be associated with the spiritual makeup of a person in addition to\ntheir physical lineage. So, noble behavior, and thus generosity, started to be\nsomething that was virtuous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut wait\u201d I hear you saying, \u201cthe Bible is full of\nscriptures that encourage us to be generous.\u201d Yes, and the Hebrew words\ntranslated as generous generally mean \u201cnoble.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No\nlonger will the fool be called noble, Or the rogue be spoken of as generous. (Isaiah\n32:5)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This scripture is interesting because the word for \u201cnoble\u201d\nhere (nadiyb) means \u201cliberal\u201d or \u201cgenerous\u201d and the word for \u201cgenerous\u201d here (showa\u2019)\nmeans \u201cnoble\u201d or \u201cfree.\u201d Wow, what an interesting, and maybe confusing rabbit\ntrail to follow and get lost on.  And I\nhave not even mentioned the Greek! I will let you continue that if you\nwant.  My intention here is not a word study<\/strong>\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concept, however, of generosity is well established as a\ngodly principle. In Acts 20, Paul claims that Jesus Himself said, \u201cIt is more blessed to give than to\nreceive.\u201d Please try to leave any political associations behind and\nconsider the links between the words \u201cnoble,\u201d \u201cliberal,\u201d and \u201cgenerous.\u201d Put\nthese words into phrases and the similarity of their meanings are illustrated.\nCommit noble acts. Apply liberally. Generous amounts\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently listened to a talk given by Nick Hanauer, an\nentrepreneur and billionaire who made a lot of money investing in Amazon in the\nearly days. He is unashamed of his\nwealth<\/strong>, and he lives the life of a typical billionaire with multiple\nmansions, yachts and private planes. But he has an interesting viewpoint on his\nwealth that may shed some light for us on God\u2019s idea of wealth, abundance, and\ngenerosity.  He explained that, very\ngenerally, in this world, the wealthier an individual is, the less of a\npercentage of their wealth they give away. This seems counter intuitive in that\na wealthy person has more than enough for what is needed and the excess could\nbe given away without much burden. But, this is rarely done in real life. His argument\nis that if rich people were more\ngenerous with their money, they would ultimately gain more wealth<\/strong>. He did\ngive one striking example that I will share with you. If restaurant owners paid\ntheir workers enough so that they could afford to eat at restaurants, wouldn\u2019t\nthat benefit the restaurant industry? He is claiming that if rich people were\nmore generous, the poor would be better off and that would make the rich\nricher\u2026 I think this may touch on what is God\u2019s\nideal for our physical world<\/strong> \u2013 If we all follow His instructions in this\nlife, the world would be great. Treat others how you want to be treated. I envision this ideal as \u201can upward spiral.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.\u201d<\/em> (Luke 6:29-31)<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ecclesiastes 11, Solomon tells us to \u201ccast our bread on\nthe waters and it will return to us.\u201d You can read this like a promise that\napplies to all mankind. In fact, I think this is where the world\u2019s concept of\nkarma comes from. Like Nick Hanauer, the billionaire, suggesting that generosity\nwill serve to make you richer, we will only benefit more if we simply give what we have<\/strong>. This idea is so\ncompletely anti-intuitive, seemingly counterproductive to me. But it is truth.\nIt is Truth substantiated by our Messiah, himself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of Luke 7, a generous woman dumps a whole jar of\nexpensive ointment on the Messiah. I read one source that said the value of the\nnard in the jar was on the order of one year\u2019s wages. I cannot imagine having\nthat kind of generosity to spend a year\u2019s salary on one gesture of reverence\nand love. If this gesture was her act of casting her bread on the water, it\ncertainly came back to her – in the form of forgiveness of her sins. But we all\nget that, just for asking, right? She\nalso received the praise of God<\/strong> and became an example to us all for the\nrest of time.  What\u2019s that worth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But let\u2019s not forget, generous giving has nothing to do with\ngetting anything in return. It is a\ngesture of love<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other end of the spectrum (in terms of worldly value)\nan example of great generosity comes to us in Mark 12 and Luke 31. That is the\nstory of the widow generously donating all that she had to live on.  Again, what was her reward for this act of\nselflessness? Do we need assurance that we will be compensated for our\ndonations? Should our donations be affected by what incentive we have or what\nreward we\u2019ll get? Should we give with the hope of receiving?  Or, should we give to compensate for what we\nhave already received? I think neither.  We give because we love<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nknow love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down\nour lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know a common thought that comes to mind when considering\nwhether or not to give generously is our concern for how the gift will be used.\nFor me, that question commonly sounds like, \u201cif I give this beggar money, will\nhe spend it on cigarettes and alcohol, or worse?\u201d And that thought often\nprevents me from giving. It is logical, after all. We want our gift to provide\nthe most benefit that it can, right? But, didn\u2019t the folks at Simon\u2019s house get\nchastised for criticizing the woman for \u201cwasting\u201d a year\u2019s wages by pouring\nointment on Christ? God wants us to give\nwith abandon<\/strong>. On that impending judgment day, can you imagine God saying to\nyou, \u201dWhy did you give that money to the drunk guy on the street? You should\nhave known that money would be wasted on booze!\u201d \u2013 Or maybe this question from\nour Creator is more plausible, \u201cWhy did you withhold that money to the beggar\non the street?\u201d A very wise and respected man I knew often told folks who would\ncriticize his generosity for these reasons, \u201cI would rather be labeled gullible than stingy<\/strong>.\u201d Wise words from a\nnon-believer \u2013 especially if that label we are given is coming from our Judge!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The\nKing will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you\ndid it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to\nMe.’ (Matthew 25:40)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think that if we, the people who claim God\u2019s promise of\nsalvation through His Son, (a.k.a. \u201cChristians\u201d) practice extreme generosity and give with reckless abandon<\/strong> to any\nand all who had need, then the rest of the world would see with their eyes, and\neven experience firsthand the fruit of our works and thus the true love of God.\nThis would be an amazingly effective tool to proselytize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set\nyour mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (Colossians\n3:2)         <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peace to you and glory to God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Nate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

www.paraklesis.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Generosity is a word that literally means \u201cof noble birth\u201d from the Latin \u201cgener\u014dsus.\u201d Yes, this also has the same root as most of our English \u201cgen\u201d words, like genesis, generate, gender, genital, genus, genius\u2026 etc. Historically, the word was used to identify a person\u2019s background or lineage \u2013 a generous person, by definition, came … Continue reading “Generosity”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}