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5 Minute Read

Want to Start Practicing Generosity? Here’s the First Thing to Give.

It’s the start of 2022 and time for resolutions. Maybe this past year you’ve noticed how generosity has transformed the life of someone you know, or maybe you’ve been having conversations with others about the power of generosity, and so this year you resolve to being more generous yourself. Great! However, maybe you’re finding it difficult to figure out where, or how, to begin. If you feel compelled to start giving but are struggling to determine where to give and how much to give, begin with giving this first: yourself.

Before thinking about which ministries to support and how much to donate, or where you’re going to volunteer, or what percentage you’re going to tithe, or how to set up a donor advised fund, begin with a simple prayer, “Lord, I give myself to you today. Make me aware of the needs of those around me and grant me the willingness to help however I can.”

Oftentimes a barrier to our generosity is simply that we are ignorant of those around us. We are so consumed with our own routine, our own comfort, our own needs, that it’s not as if we intentionally disregard the needs of others, it’s that we truthfully aren’t even aware they exist. We’re in such a rush to get to work that we fail to see the car stranded on the side of the road. We make small talk with our neighbor but fail to notice the subtle cry for help in their voice because our toes are freezing, and our driveway needs to be shoveled RIGHT NOW. A mission partner from our church comes to speak at service but their story goes unheard because we’re tying to decide between pepperoni or sausage pizza for the Big Game on TV when we get home. We’re so fixated on saving up for the next family vacation that the thought doesn’t even enter our minds that some of our excess income could go towards ministry. There are so many things that compete for our attention throughout the day, and naturally we want to focus and give ourselves to those things that pertain directly to us.

This is why the giving of ourselves needs to be a conscious and intentional act, because it won’t happen naturally. But when we make the commitment to give of ourselves, a subtle thing happens; we start to become aware. We begin to notice things. That crisis pregnancy center down the street that’s in need of volunteers. That woman who is always walking to and from work at the same time each day. That man sitting outside the library with his earthly possessions stuffed tightly into a worn backpack. We begin to notice our heart gravitating to the orphaned, homeless, addicted, lonely, elderly, and other marginalized people of our community. We begin to feel those subtle prompts from God nudging us to step outside our comfort zones and make that phone call, cook that meal, donate that money, or take any other action God may be calling us to. Generosity can and will transform your life. But that transformation results from giving our hearts to God first. When we give ourselves to God, the details of tithing percentages, which ministries to support, and so on will follow.

So, this year as you seek to grow in generosity, begin with the giving of yourself. Make yourself available for those holy interruptions, be receptive to those divine nudges. This first act of giving may lead you to places you never thought you’d go in 2022.