Day 5: Creating a Plan for Generosity

To live a generous life will require a thoughtful, intentional plan to resist the deformation of mammon and practice generosity as an act of training under Jesus in Kingdom living.

If you don’t yet have a budget or spending plan, that’s step one — along with a plan to track your spending and stay in your budget.

Next, let’s work through a few questions you need to answer:

When should we start to give? Easy answer: the time is always now!

You may need to pay down debt or change your financial obligations, but even if it’s very small, don’t wait until you have more money to give.

But this raises the question: Where should we give?

There is no rule from Jesus to follow, but there do seem to be three primary objects of generosity in the New Testament:

The first is the poor. This is the main emphasis in Jesus’ teachings and Paul’s writings.

The second is the church. This is also very clear in the New Testament: We are to give generously to our church and specifically, to our spiritual leaders. In the same way that pastors are responsible before God to see that the community is well-cared for spiritually, we are responsible to see that our pastors are well-cared for financially.

And the third object of generosity is the Gospel. This could look like giving to a missionary, or an organization that does work with unreached people groups, or to cultural apologetics here in the secular West. But some portion of our giving should go to expanding the borders of the Kingdom in our city and around the world.

But then comes the million-dollar question (no pun intended!):

How much should we give?

Again, Jesus and the New Testament writers do not give us a clear rule to follow. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9v7: “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion ...” We have to listen to God for direction.

But let me offer you five best practices from those who have gone before us. Some of this will be applicable to you, some of it will not.

First is a practice that in biblical theology is called …

1. First fruits

The basic idea is that whenever you receive income, you immediately give a portion of it back to God, with special attention to the poor, the church, and the gospel.

2. A generosity fund

This is where you set an amount to give. And you have it ready for spontaneous acts of generosity as you see needs cross your path.

3. Tithing

The word “tithe” is from the Hebrew word maaser, which means “a tenth.” Tithing is an ancient practice of giving roughly a tenth of your income away to God and the poor. Now, there is a fierce debate in the Church on whether or not tithing is required for followers of Jesus, and if so, should it go to the church or the poor or both?

But whatever your view, many followers of Jesus, for a very long time, have found the practice of tithing to be a good baseline for a lifestyle of generosity.

4. A graduated tithe

The idea here is just the New Testament principle that as your income increases, you raise not just the amount you give, but the percentage you give. The more you make, the more you give.

5. Radical class distinction

We all have a peer group that likely has a similar income range to us, and we tend to unconsciously adopt the spending habits of our context. And because wealth is relative, one person’s luxury is another person’s normal.

One way to combat this is to deliberately subvert the norms of our class. This could mean you pack a lunch when all your coworkers go out. It could mean you drive an old beater when your friends all have car payments.

And one final thing: Don’t do this alone; do this in community.

One of the great tragedies of our era is the unwritten social rule — inside and outside the church — of “don’t ask, don’t tell” about money and generosity. I believe this is one of the enemy’s schemes. Because money is both a major source of temptation and anxiety for most people. To not talk about it in community is to play into the evil one’s hands. We need to normalize healthy, transparent conversations about how we spend our money.

This could mean sharing your annual budget with a few close friends for input and accountability. And we can also give in community by creating a kind of generosity fund with others.

These are just a few ideas to spark your imagination. All of them are “radical” in our day and age, where so many people believe the lie that money will make you happy. They only make sense if Jesus was right and true happiness is found in giving, not in receiving.

Often, it takes us many years to learn to trust Jesus with our finances. But the more we come to trust him, the more generous we become.