Here is the revelation that is shaping my life today – motivation is critical, generosity is invited.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7 NLT
[6] Remember this- a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. [7] You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”
Observation
Do I give to get, or do I give cheerfully without expectation of return, or is the return of generosity in the seed of the giving? Motivation is everything to God. The world works on manipulation, control, and power, God works entirely on love. Everything He does is shaped by and flows from love. So when God invites us into the release of the generosity of our hearts, it is not manipulation, pressure, or self-serving, it is called forth based on the love that is in me. It’s out of cheerfulness in the giving that I am motivated to give.
But here is the paradox of the kingdom, when you give you plant a seed of “generous crop” in your life. When I plant in generosity there is a harvest in that giving that will return to me in the shape of returned generosity. Now, this is not the motivation for giving, love alone is the motivation, but you cannot stop the seed from producing. Like a farmer who sows generously, the crop that grows in my life from generous giving is unstoppable and generous in its return to me.
“You must each decide in your heart how much to give.” Here is where the motivation and amount of generosity sown are understood. It’s a heart thing. Not a reward move. Generosity is cheerful and never seeks a return, it’s the overflow of the heart. But it cannot avoid the return. So I must watch my motivation and listen to my heart.
Application
I will live from the posture of generosity. I will have an open heart looking for a place to sow generously. I will never give reluctantly or from a place of pressure, for this is not generosity.
Response
Thank you that you invite me into a heart of generosity towards others. Thank you that you are always generous to me. Thank you that your love shapes my generosity. Thank you that you never use manipulation in any form to move me in any direction. I love living in you.
Meditation
Meditation truth – “God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”
Consider:
Do I have and live from open-hearted generosity?
What motivates me to generosity?
JOURNEY DEEPER