"A Lifestyle Of Generosity"

Pastor Mark A. Callister 

      I had a couple at the church today asking for help.  They were asking for money to help them get back to Michigan after attending a funeral.  I am always skeptical about any story I hear from people asking for money.  Most stories are designed to tug at our heartstrings and touch whatever chord is most likely to make us respond.  True or not, I took the couple to Loaf ‘N Jug and filled their car up with gas.

          The question for me today was not, “Is their story true?”  The question for me today was, “Has my heart been hardened towards the needy?”  I have to admit that because of the number of strangers asking me for money I have found myself reluctant to respond to any of their needs.

          I find it easy to respond with generosity when I know someone personally and understand their need.  I am usually first in line to help in some way.  But various experiences with strangers have hardened me to the validity of any story, no matter how compelling or tender.

          It dawned on me today that I have allowed people to change who I fundamentally am.  I am fundamentally a generous person.  Over the years I have allowed the manipulation of others to make me jaded and calloused.

          In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about handing out rewards and punishment when He returns.  To those who are generous the King will say, “Come, you who are blessed by my father; take your inheritance.”  To those who are generous the King will say, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in…”  If cars had been invented back then He may have even included, “For I had an empty tank and you filled it up.” 

          It is difficult, but I must not allow the reality of this world to change who I fundamentally am.  I believe the responsibility on me in those moments was not to do a “fact check” on the story of the strangers standing in front of me, but instead to do a “generosity check” on myself.

          God bless us as we seek to live a lifestyle of generosity in the midst of a needy, and sometimes greedy, world.