This week we continued our “GET SNEAKY” series (and interactive card game) by talking about how we can “GET SNEAKY WITH GENEROSITY!” "Generosity is defined as a "willingness to give or to share unselfishly". Last week, we talked about kindness- and you can't really be generous without kindness, but generosity takes things a step further. Generosity requires a bit of sacrifice.
We kicked things off with this video clip depicting Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan.
The reason why Jesus told this story (which can be found in Luke 10) is because someone asked Jesus—“How does God want me to live?” To which Jesus told the person—“God wants us to love him and have a relationship with him, and he wants us to be “good neighbours”—to love others as much as we love ourselves”. Jesus says that this story is a perfect example of what it means to be a "good neighbour".
1. GENEROSITY ISN’T JUST "CARING"- IT’S "DOING".
The guys that passed by this injured man probably felt super bad for him. They may have even said a prayer—“God, I pray that you would heal this guy". "God, please send someone across this guy’s path to help him”. Of course, they totally missed the fact that THEY would have been that someone! Generosity doesn’t just mean caring about people, having pity on them, wishing them well…but actually DOING something to help them in some way. Generosity costs you something.
2. GENEROSITY MEANS MORE THAN GIVING $$.
One of the most common ways that we can show generosity is by giving money. The Good Samaritan, in our story, gave someone money to take care of the injured man (and the Samaritan even promised to return and pay for any additional expenses, so he was committed to helping this guy on an ongoing basis, not just giving a few bucks one time and then leave him to become someone else's problem).
But the Good Samaritan didn’t just give money…. He also gave of his time! He probably had things to do! He probably didn’t want to hang out on a road where robbers could jump out at anytime! BUT, he STOPPED! He put his own plans on hold! He actually bandaged this guy’s wounds (which would have been kinda gross), loaded him on his donkey, and took him someplace where he could get additional help.
Teenagers might not have a lot of bucks- especially if they haven't started working yet, but when they volunteer—when they give of their time—either in the church or in the community, they're showing generosity! Even when they do something as simple as stopping to help someone who drops their books in the hallway at school instead of rushing off to their own class, they are showing GENEROSITY because it costs them something! It costs them time- and time is the most valuable thing any of us has!
Generosity also means sharing! It’s not hoarding something for yourself—but spreading it around for other people too. Even something as simple as offering someone a stick of gum is a small, simple way of showing generosity.
3. GENEROSITY TIP: GIVE STRATEGICALLY!
There are a lot of problems in our world! There are a lot of needs! Everybody is asking for money- and we can’t possibly give to EVERY, SINGLE NEED that comes across our path—we can’t volunteer for EVERY organization that tries to help people—because we only have so much time in the day, we only have so much money…
But, we can’t let the overwhelming size of the problem prevent us from giving up altogether and not being generous.
Something that I often do is pray and ask God how I should give. Sometimes I feel God saying to me that I need to give a certain amount of money as a one-time thing to a person or some kind of organization. Sometimes I sense that God is telling me to give to something on an ongoing basis. For example, we sponsor a child in Africa through Compassion Canada. By the way, if you want to get that kind of direction from God-- the healthier your friendship with him is, the more you'll sense the Holy Spirit speaking to you.
Also, a good thing to think about is- What’s really important to God? How would he want me to use my time or money? What are things that I REALLY care about? What are needs that feel the most important to me? Some people might love animals and be involved in animal shelters. For other people, they would rather volunteer at an innercity mission- caring for the poor and homeless. Some might choose to give money to help scientists try to cure cancer, while others feel more passionate about donating to support a missionary. All of those causes are important-- but we can't be super passionate about ALL OF THEM-- because you can only give so much. What are the things that are most important to you? Maybe that's an indicator of where you should be generous?
Of course, that doesn’t mean that when a need comes across your path you should ignore it if you’re just not “feeling it”. I mean, even if the first guy in Jesus' story who passed by the injured man was a “dog lover”, that’s a pretty sad excuse for not helping someone who was fighting for his life. "Nope. Sorry, I ONLY help injured animals."
4. GOD BLESSES US WHEN WE’RE GENEROUS
When we’re generous—we’re giving up something that’s valuable to us, we’re giving up something for ourselves to help someone else! When we do that, it's a way we worship God. When we’re generous- we’re also trusting God. We’re saying, “I’m not going to rely on this money to take care of me—but by giving away what’s so important, I’m relying on God to take care of me”.
I’ve never heard of anybody who was generous, say that they regret living that way. I’ve never heard of anyone on their death bed say that if they could do it all over again, they wouldn’t help anybody.
I just love that verse from Proverbs 11:25! When it's saying that a generous person will "prosper", it’s not saying that if you give money, you’ll get lots of money back (although, from my experience, I've found that by living generously, I've noticed how God has provided for me in amazing ways). This word, "prosper", in the Hebrew language has more to do with being "fulfilled". When you're generous, you will be blessed! You'll enjoy the rich and fulfilling life that God wants for you! The second part of that verse says that generosity will REFRESH you! It'll benefit you!
QUESTIONS FOR HOME
1. We're continuing our SNEAKY CARDS game for the next couple of weeks. Your teen (hopefully) returned any cards he/she couldn't use, and brought home 5 more! Ask them about what missions they received! Help them complete them!
2. Talk to your teen about the ways your family chooses to be generous. They might not even know about all of the ways you give! Ask them that if they were given $100 and HAD to spend it by donating to a charity, or if they had to volunteer a certain number of hours each month at some charitable organization, what would they choose and why? Perhaps you can think about giving to that need or volunteering in that way as a family sometime in the next couple of weeks- showing your teen that you want to support a cause that's important to them.
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