Pastor Bahe pointed out seven forms of generosity in her January 29 message from the “5 daily habits from the Bible to truly bring joy” sermon series:
- Generosity of thoughts
- Generosity of words
- Generosity of money
- Generosity of time
- Generosity of things
- Generosity of influence
- Generosity of attention
She went on to say:
When we are faithful, even in little ways, following these seven forms of generosity; we will also be faithful in much. If we are generous in these seven ways we become more and more like Jesus. We find more purpose in our lives as well.
Jesus said:
Where your treasure is there will be your heart (Matthew 6:21)
Where you spend your treasures (thoughts, words, money, time, things, influence, and attention) is where your focus will be and where your heart will be. Living in a selfish world, as we do, does not mean that we have to live selfishly. Living in a world that is only concerned about selfies and selfish gains, we can choose to live ever more generously. To make that a habit, a daily habit, we can choose to give more of ourselves. We can choose to give more of our money. We can choose to give more of our time. And we can choose to give more of our energy into this world that really doesn’t deserve it. But we can choose every day to be more like Jesus and be more generous. Jesus teaches that over and over, not just in this passage but over and over in all of his ministry. It was taught over and over in the Old Testament as well. Why? So that we could have life; and Jesus said for us to have life and have it abundantly, filled with joy. And that just flows out when we find ourselves making generosity a daily habit.
