A Writer’s Brief Reflection
Generous on Behalf of Christ
I don’t know about you, but I have to work at being generous. Still, the more generous I am the more fun it is. The more I extend my hand to others, the richer my life becomes. God honors generosity.
[Here is a link to a good article on generosity – 5 Reasons Christians Should be Generous]
Proverbs 11:24-25 informs us that “There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.”
One should be generous with their wealth, with their material possessions, and with their time and talents. But there is another generosity that exceeds them all in its benefits to the receiving party.
Philippians 1:29 says, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”
We often focus on the suffering mentioned in this verse, but what jumps out at me is the idea that we believe on Christ on behalf of Christ. I find that an odd sort of thought. I understand suffering on His behalf, but what does it mean to believe on His behalf? It would seem to me that the idea expressed here is that our faith is not private, not something that is “ours,” hidden somewhere in the recesses of the heart. In contrast, our faith is to be observable.
Our faith is to demonstrate the reality of Christ in us. So our faith should impact our world for Christ, for only then could it be said we are “believing in Him” on His behalf. So I ask myself: Does my lived-out faith reflect Christ to the people around me?
There is nothing more generous than sharing the reality of Christ with others.