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Generosity Index
I was listening to the radio one time while traveling in the car, and heard an interesting segment on one of the news reports. The report was talking about the percentage of giving in the various states, as in relates to peoples income. Some of the wealthy states of the union was at the bottom of the rankings in the Generosity Index, the amount of giving based on peoples income. Yet some of the poorer states in the union, ranked the highest in Generosity Index, for these states were in the Bible Belt in our country.
Now this raises some interesting questions for us to think about. Where would my giving rate in the Generosity Index that was talked about on the radio? Would I be like the people in Malachi's day who robbed God, Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Mal.3:8. Which category would I fit into from 2Cor.9:6, But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Would my Generosity Index be in the sparingly or stingy side of giving? Or would it be on the bountiful or liberal side of giving? Now certainly God has set the example in being generous in giving. Paul said in Rom.8:32, He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? That word spared, is the same basic word, used in 2Cor.9:6, meaning stingy; God was NOT stingy when it came to our redemption. He is the bench mark for generosity, in the matter of giving. Jesus was a giver, Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Matt.20:28. Paul followed the example that Jesus taught, I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20:35. Yes, we ought to seek to follow the precepts, and the Biblical examples when it come to this matter of giving. Recognize, we shall be judged in the light of God's word at the end of time.
