LAVISHNESS.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve realized that I can be kind of stingy. Stingy with money. Stingy with time. Stingy with my possessions. 

But what scares me is that my stinginess often spills over to my spiritual life. I’ve noticed that I can be stingy with showing love. Stingy with giving grace. Stingy with forgiving.

According to Dictionary.com the word stingy has two definitions:

1. Unwilling to give or spend. 

2. Insufficient in quantity.

When I think about my own stinginess, I realize I prove these definitions true. Often, I’m just unwilling to give or spend my time, money, and possessions. Some days I feel like I just don’t have any more love and attention to give.

The worst part about stinginess (or any other character flaw) is that we often, unknowingly, project it upon God. We begin to view our heavenly Father through our own personal lense of stinginess.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “The eye is the lamp unto the body.” In other words, the way we percieve God actually dictates our experience with Him. If we view Father God in a way that is inconsistent with His nature we’ll contaminate our experience with Him.

So here’s what I want you to know: God is anything but stingy. He is generous and extravagent. When He shows up there is always abundance. He will offend you with how much He loves to give love, forgiveness, grace, and any other of His gifts.

I believe that most of us are comfortable not aligning God with the second definition of stinginess - “insufficient in quantity.” He owns the cattle on 1,000 hills and is the sustanor of heaven and earth. Most every Christian would agree that God does not have insufficient funds.

But what most of us struggle with, myself included, is the first definition of stinginess - “unwilling to give or spend.” We know God is able, but is He willing? 

We know He is forgiving, but will He forgive me this time? We know He is loving, but is He willing to love someone like me? We know He has blessing and abundance, but will He choose to provide for me?

To His children, our Father in heaven answers all of those questions with a resounding, “Yes!” Not only is He able, He is willing. It is in His heart to bless you and provide for you. It is His nature to cover you, saturate you, soak you, lavish you, overwhelm you, and knock you off your feet with His goodness.

The Psalmist said, “No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11

This Christmas I pray that you would learn to recieve from God. Rest in His lavishness. He will provide more than you could ask or imagine. Allow your view of God to be transformed so that you can see Him as the extravagent gift-giver that He is.

Grace and peace,

JP Hennessy, youth director