The Generosity of God

Photo by Ullash Borah on Unsplash

God is radically generous. 

He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), provides us with everything to enjoy (1Timothy 6:17), bestows on us favor and honor (Psalm 84:11), gives us the fullness of joy (John 16:23-24), lavishes his grace upon us (Ephesians 1:7-8), and it is true that every good and perfect gift comes from Him (James 1:17). It is God’s love that propelled Him to send us His only son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). His love is generous in that way; to sacrifice His own son to die that we may have life. To become human, live a life that we could not live, die a death He did not deserve, and raise again that we may all be seated in heavenly places with Him. This is a radical and generous kind of love. 

God has been teaching me about His generosity for as long as I can remember.

For years, He has used the image of a table to reveal to me His nature. He first showed me that I had a seat at His table and He wanted me to be there. This taught me his love and pursuit of me. He gave me permission to feast and not settle for scraps. This showed me His abundance. He taught me how to invite others to this table, which helped me to see that there is enough of His presence to go around. He has, by His grace, removed from me the perspective of scarcity and replaced it with a revelation of His abundance and generosity.

Once again, God has brought this image to my mind. As I have been reflecting on this, it struck me that the response to God’s generosity is gratitude. Praise, thanksgiving, exaltation, and gratitude orient our hearts toward God. It is in this posture that we recognize how great a gift He has given us. We become aware of His love and sacrifice for us, which leads us to respond. We do this at the communion table. As a spiritual family, we posture ourselves in gratitude as a response to His generous gift to us. We can only be grateful for the measure that we recognize God’s generosity toward us. 

My prayer is that we would all receive a deeper revelation of God’s love and generosity toward us, and may we all respond in gratitude.