Practical Ways to Increase Your Generosity
Have you ever known someone who is especially generous? Someone who gets excited about sacrificial giving? And after seeing their excitement and enjoyment of being generous has it made you want to grow in your own generosity?
Seeing the joy of generosity first-hand can be contagious.
But, growing in generosity is not simply just forcing yourself to give away more of your money. You can give away 50%, 60%, 70% of your income and that does not necessarily mean you are a generous person.
As an example consider weight-lifting. Does bench-pressing a lot of weight mean that you have strong arms/chest? It could, or maybe you have weak arms and you bench-pressed more than you are able - thus, instead of making your arms stronger, you’ve damaged your arms/chest.
The goal of believers would not be to grow in how much you are giving away (strictly speaking); the goal would be to grow into being a “cheerful giver” like we find in 2 Corinthians 9:7 - how much you are giving away can be a fruit of the deeper root of generosity.
How can we grow in generosity?
We will go through practices that can “work out” our generosity muscle, helping us practically see that: God owns all that we have, and we are to live open-handedly.
As with any spiritual discipline, we must enter with caution, noting that the discipline itself is not what brings us fullness of joy. Instead, we enter into the disciplines knowing that the habits can reshape our hearts and minds to be more attuned to the gospel.
We can think of some of these practical steps to grow in generosity as handrails to get us started in generosity so that over time generosity begins to flow more naturally.
Find the Perfect Example of Generosity
It is much easier to learn something if you have a good example. That is why in 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul says to be imitators of him, as he is of Christ. At that time, the Corinthians hadn't seen Jesus. But they had seen Paul, so it was easier for them to see the example Christ set, in the physical person of Paul and what he was doing.
Does this mean to forget Christ and follow another? Certainly not! But it can help with “working out” with a lower amount of weight. From a different metaphor, in 1 Corinthians Paul says, “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.”
For us, we can practically learn and be encouraged regarding what it looks like to have a generous heart by looking through the scriptures to see where Christ deserved “everything” but humbly lowered himself to our level for our sake.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
Find one scripture, like the one above, and memorize it. Meditate on it.
As you are setting this foundation for generosity it is always important to consider that you are not giving away a portion of something that is “yours” because ultimately, God owns it all and we are stewards of his resources.
Attend a Journey of Generosity (JOG)
Generous Giving is a non-profit that is dedicated to helping believers grow in their love for being generous. They regularly organize small group events (around 10 people) to go through videos, scriptures, and times of prayer to consider stories of generosity and encourage one another on what that could look like in your own life.
What is even better is that Generous Giving is a self-funded organization, never asks for money, and the small groups are hosted by individuals who have been through a JOG before and would like to host one to help others experience what they have.
You can learn more about JOGs, here, they have events online or in person.
Find Things That You Already Enjoy and Be Generous In/With That
If you have a skill or hobby that you enjoy, you can incorporate generosity in that area of your life. If you make things - give some of them away. If you can teach something - bring someone interested into the fold to teach them how to grow in that skill or hobby.
If there is a non-profit that you’re interested in, or your church, you can get involved in volunteering (being generous with your time). In doing so, you’ll likely also be more eager to give of other resources, as you see they’re needed by the organization.
Be Generous With Something You Have Much Of
This is certainly not the best long-term option for growing in generosity, but again is a “lower weight level” to start growing our generosity muscles. We know that ideally, we are generous with even the things that we have little of.
Consider the poor widow in Mark 12 who gave everything that she had to live on. Jesus said that she gave more than those who gave large sums out of their abundance.
As you move towards this type of sacrificial giving (which is a funny way to phrase giving away something that isn’t yours to begin with 😉) you can find things that you have excess of, and start the generosity inertia there.
Are you parents to young kids, with less time on your hands? Financial giving might be the way for you in this stage of life.. Do you have More available time on your hands as you transition to retirement? Giving of your time might be right at this stage. Have a large family that makes you cook in bulk most of the time? Make that bulk meal a little larger and bring a meal to someone in need.
Set up a Bank Account For Your Generosity
An easy way to get used to living more open-handedly with what you have is to set up a separate bank account for your generosity. Each month you can set aside a specific amount into the bank account - you can even automate that transfer between bank accounts each month (or pay-cycle). Then as opportunities arise, you have an account you can give from.
Set up a Donor Advised Fund (DAF)
This is very similar to the previous point, but instead of a bank account, you would set up a specific account called a Donor Advised Fund.
Money that you put into a DAF can only be sent to non-profits, but you have control over when that money is sent, to which non-profit it is sent, and you even can invest the funds in a DAF and can give away the growth on the account as well.
The reason that money can only be sent to non-profits from the DAF is that you receive a tax-deduction at the time you make your contribution to the DAF.
Graduated Tithe
I am not sure that Jon Piper initially came up with the concept, but in an article in 2013 he mentioned that he put in place a “graduated tithe” for his family. The concept is easy enough: as you earn more, you give away a greater percentage, not just a greater dollar amount. Over time, this could have a significant impact on the amount and percentage that you are being generous with.
A Cheerful Giver
All-in-all, the ultimate goal is not to give more money away for that purpose in and of itself.
“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7.
“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ”
You can’t white-knuckle your way into being a cheerful giver. Keep the example of Christ and the foundation that “God owns it all” in mind as you use these examples to grow the habits of generosity so that the habits over time reshape your heart into finding joy in generosity.
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