“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”Ephesians 5:1-2 (ESV)
An amazing transformation takes place when you live generously in every area of your life. The grip of materialism starts to break, and your heart grows bigger. But something even greater happens: You become like Jesus.
What is Jesus like? One of his characteristics is his outrageous, lavish, and radical generosity. Everything you have—the air and water, your brain and heartbeat—is a total gift of God’s generosity. In fact, without God’s generosity, you’d have nothing.
Jesus is the master example of generosity. The Bible says, “You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor and we became rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9 The Message).
What does that verse mean? Jesus Christ is God. He had all the splendor of heaven, but he gave it up and came to Earth to be born in a barn. That’s about as low as a person could go. Why did he do it? He certainly didn’t do it for himself.
Jesus did it for you.
It was the ultimate act of generosity: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16 ESV).
So why does God want you to live generously? Because he wants you to be like him, and that means he wants you to be generous!
The Bible says, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2 ESV).
God didn’t put you on Earth to live for yourself. Instead, he put you here to learn how to be unselfish and focused on others. He made you to reflect him.
How are you imitating the generosity of Jesus today? Each time you’re generous with your time, money, influence, or love, you begin to look more and more like him.
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!
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