I Kings 17:13And Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. 14For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.'" 15And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. 16The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.
Generosity: the quality or fact of being plentiful or large.
For some time now the Lord has impressed on me that I need to be more generous. I really haven't understood what that meant. I don't have tons of money, but even in the beginning I felt like it was more than just being a money issue, it was being generous of me. So I look around at people that I think are generous and this is what I see. One of my friends is the person you call when you need help arranging things or knowing the right thing to do, and she never seems to mind. She is always busy doing for others. Amazing woman. What is it about her that draw people to her? She cares, and she does it seemingly without effort. She has arranged weddings, decorates privately and for churches, yet she takes the time to show me how do simple things.
The widow was worried about how little she had, yet Elijah gave her the word from the Lord. Wonder how she felt? Did she have faith or can you imagine what she was thinking as she was making the cake. My thoughts would be that we would just die a little sooner, or maybe that he had food he hadn't shown us. Can you imagine what it would be for her each day as she continued to find flour and oil? Amazement.
I keep coming back to how do I become that person? How do I become less self centered and more Christ centered?
There is a doctor who has been asking to come over with her husband to our house and play games. I had resisted and resisted. See, I don't have a nicely decorated home that will be photographed anytime soon for any kind of decorating magazine (unless it's the before pictures) and I just resist having people over. It really stretches me. Finally I gave in and *gasp* they never noticed the house, they really wanted to play games. They want to be friends, and they don't know the Lord. How can I share the Lord with them if I can't share my home with them?
So yesterday I was talking with a friend and it hit me. Our being generous with each other is practice for us to be generous with those that need the Lord. If I give of my resources, whether it's time, friendship, a meal, whatever to those that already like me and know me, it will flow when it's time to give to others. It will be natural. And what does the world need: someone to care. Because trust me, people in the world really don't care about those around them. If I'm kind to those around me, it will be easy to be kind to others If I never speak bad of those around me, I'll not of others.
Practice. Call your friend you haven't seen, talk to them. Take a meal to someone who is a little sick, simple things. People want to know someone cares. Look for them on facebook, say hi. Nag me to invite you over, you might get served hot dogs and chili but it's not the meal that we seek, but the friendship. Remember how to reach out like we want to be reached out to.
For some people this is easy, for some like me it's harder. But I really believe that if we have a glimpse of the Kingdom of God that the way to make things "on earth as they are in Heaven" is to start doing what we envision. I want to have a happy work environment - I stay upbeat; I don't want to be around negative stuff - I stop being negative and walk away; I want to be kind to others - I have to view people not as how they present to me but why they are presented to me (remember I work in an ER). It's the whole Man in the Mirror thing (Michael Jackson). It starts with me.
