More Money Won’t Make You More Generous

One of the greatest illusions of our day is this: More money will make me more generous.

My wife, Brandi, and I have always enjoyed hosting small-group Bible studies in our home. Over the many years we’ve been married, we’ve almost always had a group that met regularly in our house. I’ll never forget something that happened some time ago in one of those groups.

At the time, we were serving in Morgantown, Kentucky, and our group was made up of married couples and singles. One of them was a single woman who worked at a local factory. I’ll call her Peggy.

On this particular night we were talking about generosity.

She had remained quiet for most of the conversation but spoke up during prayer requests at the end. She said, “Pete, it’s no secret to most of you that I play the lottery on a regular basis. I would like to ask you and the group to pray that I win the Kentucky Powerball this week. It’s up to 47 million, and if I won that kind of money, I guarantee you I would give a lot of it away.”

*Photo Credit: khrawlings, Creative Commons

That request put me in a difficult position. After the meeting finished, I felt prompted to explore Peggy’s request a little further.

“Peggy, do you give any of your money away right now? Do you tithe or give to any causes or invest in any individuals or anything?”

She thought for a second and said, “No, not really.”

I asked, “Between you and me, how much money do you make a year?”

She answered, “I make about 21,000 dollars a year.”

“Peggy, what in the world makes you think that you would be generous with 47 million if you’re not generous with 21,000?”

When Jesus said it is better to give than to receive he wasn’t just giving us a quote we could use on greeting cards at Christmas.

He really meant it.

You’ll actually like your life more if you spend more time thinking about how you can give than how you can get. In fact, you’ll actually have more peace.

After my question, Peggy sat there for a second but really had no response. And I didn’t push the matter because, to be honest, there are times when I find myself thinking the same way she did.

This may be one of the greatest illusions about money. We think the only reason we’re not generous is because things are too tight right now and we don’t make a lot. We think, “When I make more money I’m going to start being generous.”

The trouble is, it doesn’t usually work that way.

One of the most reliable financial statistics that exists is that lower income people give a higher percentage of their income away. The more you get the harder it is for you to be generous. If you can’t be generous when you make $21,000, you will not be generous when you make $41,000. If you’re not generous with $41,000, you won’t be generous with $141,000.

If you can’t be generous with what you have now, you will never be generous with more.

More Money Won’t Make You More Generous is a post from: Storyline Blog