“What stirs your affections for Christ?”
Might be music or nature. Piles of books. Cross necklaces or Thomas Kincaid. Embracing your kids. The key change in Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”. Coffee, alcohol, or butter. I don’t know what does it for you.
But for me, it’s extravagant generosity. Medical debt being forgiven. Car keys getting tossed across the table. A check with someone’s name on it for the exact amount they needed. People showing up to cut a fallen tree down on the rubble of a tornado demolished home. Sending a grubhub giftcard or Venmo’ing $50.
Hearing about or being actually inside of someone’s story of provision, I routinely feel God’s presence. I see his hand; recognize his artistry. And I’m usually a puddle of a human in a short period of time. It’s my guilty pleasure.
I decided to pull on the thread (or stir the pot more intentionally, don’t really know what the metaphor is here) of generosity in the summer of 2019 to see where it would lead. 2 years later, after a 2020 Pandemic, starts and stops, thinking i’m a genius or completely crazy, learned a ton, confronted my own anxiety, selfishness, and toxic self-preservation, collected tons of verses, research, and stories, and more.
But more than ever, I feel closer to God in a way I can’t fully explain. Because I’ve realized that generosity isn’t the end, it’s just the medium. For God to show me that he loves me by being a giver. And I’m one too.
I didn’t know what to do with everything I’m experiencing and learning. The general good Christian answer is that all giving should be done in secret, but something felt wrong. I couldn’t help asking, “if everything is done in secret, how will people know how amazing giving can be?”
Then I came across this verse.
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” Hebrews 10:24
And so that’s what I’m gonna do. Start talking about it. That God is a giver and he’s crazy about you. Examples of His generosity, the factors that make it incredible, and real stories I encounter. All in hopes that you or someone else (or maybe just my mom) will also find the love and joy in God’s generosity. But I’m committing to faithfully blog every week for the next year. 52 entries. God, do with it what you will. I can’t keep it a secret anymore. Gotta stir the pot.
J.B.
P.S. – You can start reading 2 resources I’ve created right now if you want:
- All the passages I’ve found that speak to generosity, i’ve collected here (and continuing to add as i find them).
- I think I’ve found a pattern to God’s generosity. I’m sure there will be more posts about this.
*Featured Photo by Michal Balog on Unsplash, Creatively enhanced by me.