One holiday season, my family and I passed a man collecting donations for a charity. He was using an up-turned tambourine to collect the money, so I gave my preschooler a handful of change and told her to put it in. Before I could stop her, raised that fistful of change into the air and forcefully threw it into the tambourine. The next thing I knew, that gift was flying back in our faces like shrapnel from a grenade. It was the gift that gave back.
You see the same thing in Genesis chapter 13. Abram and his nephew Lot had become quite successful. Their herds had grown to the point that the land can no longer sustain both of them. They had to separate.
Abram, being the elder, had the freedom to choose the choice real estate, but instead, he generously gave his nephew first choice. The youthful Lot chose the prime land and Abram was left with the not-so-prime land. But as soon as Lot left, God promised to give Abram all the land he could see.
Too often, we hold onto things out of a fear of scarcity. We’re afraid that if we give it away, we won’t have it when we need it. Slowly, our self-protection crowds out our generosity.
Abram discovered that generosity is the gift that gives back. Jesus confirmed this when he said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” – Luke 6:38.
Where do you need to let go and be more generous? What’s holding you back? Imagine what God might do if you were more generous. Look for a place to be generous today.
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.