One afternoon, my dad and I were talking about the doctrine of grace. He said something I’ll never forget,
People are born legalists
He went on to explain that it’s human nature to compare ourselves with others. We look for things that disqualify others, choking them off from God’s grace…and ours!
What chokes the flow of giving generously?
The answer is grudges. Not huge ones, but little ones that subtly hinder our generosity. Grudges where we view others as less deserving. Or grudges towards those who have more than we think they need or deserve. Either way, we like to compare ourselves with others, and then withhold our generosity from them.
In his sermon, “The Terms of Prayer,” Jonathan Edwards gave three reasons why we withhold blessings from others: envy, contempt, and resentment.
Envy
Envy is withholding blessings from others in order to preserve my own standing. We like to be distinguished. We like to be superior to others. We want to stand out. We we want to be happier than others, so we begrudge others, lest they match or exceed us. Or we twist our envy in the other direction because we perceive others have more happiness than us. So what need is there for us to share? Either way, envy chokes off generosity.
Contempt
Contempt is more personal. It’s a withholding of blessings from others because we see them as unworthy. We see things wrong in their lives makes them underserving. This subtle contempt of looking down on others chokes off generosity.
Resentment
Resentment causes us to withhold blessings from others because they have wronged us. Once we have been wronged, we may not look for opportunities to return wrongs, but we often stop looking for opportunities to bless. Thus resentment is effective at choking off generosity.
God is not envious of us. He has no contempt towards us. And He holds no resentment towards us. Though we are totally unworthy and disqualified, God’s generosity to us is never choked off. And that’s the message of the gospel, to show us the generous riches of God’s infinite and boundless grace.
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)
God withholds nothing from us, shouldn’t we be as generous?
Generosity is more than tithing, and more than just giving money. Tithing isn’t necessarily a sign of grace. It can be very legalistic. A stingy person can give ten percent. Ten percent is good, but that’s not the point. The point is to be generous.
The issue is giving generously. One of the effects of the gospel going deeper into our souls is that it frees our fingers to loosen their grasp on our stuff. Generosity is one of the great evidences of being a Christian.
We may be born stingy legalists, but when the gift of God’s grace opens our souls—and with it our hands, and we become generous givers!
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