Our Generous God

Article and Photos by Kevin Austin

Did you know there are more than 750 species of butterflies? God could have dazzled us with a few, but gave us hundreds. Did you know there are more than 22,000 species of fish? God is an extravagant creator. Who doesn’t marvel at a hillside in Western New York in autumn? You can see every shade of yellow, orange, and red. Nature reveals that our Creator God doesn’t hold back.

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“The good father is generous, forgiving, and sacrificial.”

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Scripture shows us that God wants to lavish us with good gifts. The word “lavish” means “occurring in profusion,” “giving in great amounts,” and “to expend or give without limit.” Interestingly, “lavish” is the opposite of “prodigal.” The prodigal son in Luke 15:11–32 is wasteful and reckless. The good father is generous, forgiving, and sacrificial.

Ephesians 1:3–10 tells us that God has blessed us “with every spiritual blessing in Christ” — not just a few, but every. In verses 7 and 8, it says God lavished His grace on us through Jesus. God doesn’t just “save us.” We are adopted into the family, made daughters and sons with rights and responsibilities of citizenship in the kingdom. We are blessed with belonging, purpose, power, and with abundant grace, joy, and hope.

What is our response to our generous God?

Thankfulness and Worship

In September, I was in Cambodia and took a photography trip to Angkor Wat (you can see photos at Kaustin.photography). Each day as I walked through the jungle, thousands of butterflies surrounded me. I marveled and worshipped God as they fluttered around me. Every day for lunch, I ate delicious fish amok with a big bottle of cold water. The second the curry hit my tongue, I was thankful to God for food. Drinking the cold water in the hot humid weather caused me to worship God. Our first response to anything God does is to be thankful and worship.

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“God is generous and gives abundantly, we can trust Him.”

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Trust and Hope in God

Our second response is to trust and put our hope in God. 1 Timothy 6:17 states:

Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy. (BSB)

Because God is generous and gives abundantly, we can trust Him. We don’t need to fear. We don’t need to rely on human wisdom, fleeting power, and corruptible wealth. Instead, we rely on the Lord who delights in justice, loving kindness, and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:23–24).

I’ve now been to more than 40 countries. I’ve seen Roman ruins and the temples at Angkor Wat propped up with huge beams. What the proud and mighty build with their wisdom, power, and wealth crumbles and falls down. Let us put our trust and hope in the eternal God.

We Emulate Our Generous God

Because what we do flows out of who we are, we can’t help but emulate God in generosity. God forms our character. We become more and more like Jesus. As a result, we take on all the characteristics of God. We become more loving, forgiving, grace-filled, and generous.

Because we trust God, we can freely give away our time, our gifts, and our finances to bless others. 2 Corinthians 9:11 encourages us:

You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. (ESV)

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“We have more than enough. We can give more than we think we can.”

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God enriches us, and, out of these good gifts, we can now be generous. Not just a little generous; we can have lifestyles of generosity. Notice this verse uses “every way” twice. We have more than enough. We can give more than we think we can.

Our third response is to act like God.

Ask Boldly

Our fourth response is to ask God to be generous with us and others. Matthew 7:7–11 states:

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (ESV)

We are encouraged to seek, knock, and ask. These are active words. We can ask our good Father to not only meet our needs, but also to do great things for the kingdom.

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“We want God to do more and more through Set Free to help others find freedom and hope.”

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Ephesians 3:14-21 is powerful. Verse 20 states that God wants to do more than we can ask or imagine. God is generous! Let’s ask God to do hard, challenging, wonderful, impossible things. The organization I lead, the Set Free Movement, has just create the E320 prayer community, based on this verse (sign up at tinyurl.com/E320Prayer). We want God to do more and more through Set Free to help others find freedom and hope.

Did you know there are more than 150 species of roses? When you see rose bushes, you lean into the soft pedals and breathe deeply. You smell the rose and savor it. You are smelling generosity. Look at the green of the forest and marvel at the uniqueness of each snowflake. Thank God for these gifts. Let that bite of something delicious lead you to thankfulness, wonder, and worship. When you gather in worship with others, lift your voice in praise. Praise our loving, generous God. The next time you participate in the Lord’s Supper, be truly, humbly thankful that you are free. Remember that once you were a slave to sin and shame. Now you are a daughter or son of God.

All because of our generous God.

Learn more about the Set Free Movement at setfreemovement.com.

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