What Does God’s Image Have To Do with Generosity?

There are countless ways we can feel honored in life, from receiving a recognition award at work, to being asked to stand in a friend’s wedding, to being included in an exclusive team or committee or to being asked to write a letter of recommendation for someone. Being honored in life is a great feeling; it makes us feel special and important. But how much greater does it feel to be honored by God? One of the greatest ways we are honored by God is that he created us in his likeness, and we get to bear his image! The Bible reveals this in Genesis 1:27. Think about that, the same God who created and sustains the universe chose to pour out his qualities in us. What an honor!

Think of some of the qualities of God that he gave us to bear – love, compassion, mercy, grace and much, much more. One aspect of God’s image that can get overlooked is generosity. Generosity is a central character trait of God. We celebrate the generous gift of his Son Jesus every Christmas. We reflect on Jesus’ generous sacrifice every Easter, remembering when he died on the cross for our salvation. God’s generosity is experienced every time we’re forgiven when we mess up. It’s seen through the blessings we receive even when we don’t deserve them. Even little things such as the colors of sunsets that paint the sky with beauty, the fragrances of seasons that make us feel alive or even our tastebuds that give us satisfaction from feasting on great food all point to God’s generosity.

Because we’re created in the image of God, we possess the capacity to be generous like him. That’s right, there’s generosity waiting to be expressed inside each and every one of us. Even those who may frustrate us because they are crabby, angry or stingy still have the capacity to be generous within them. There’s generosity within all of us! That’s part of the honor of bearing the image of God. The challenge is that while we all inherit the capacity to be generous, sometimes we don’t tap into this potential. For some of us it’s greed and selfishness that limits our generosity capacity. For others it’s fear, worry or doubt that cause us to cling too tightly to our resources. Still for others, we may lack awareness or support to reach our generosity potential.

So, how can we better reflect the image of God through our generosity? We can spend time in prayer, asking God to free us from anything getting in the way. We may need to take a step of faith and be intentional about acting generously even if we don’t know what the outcome will be. We can invite other people further ahead to teach us how to be more generous. When we take steps to grow our generosity, we are also taking steps to reflect the generous nature of God’s image. And to be and do the things that align with God’s nature are a wonderful act of worship that honors him. What an honor it truly is to bear the image of a generous God!

Photo Credit: Cherry Laithang