For the past years, money has been tight, interest rates have gone up; inflation is obvious; gas prices go up and down; the price of homes is ridiculous; used cars are overpriced; taxes seem to be off the charts; everyone everywhere has been feeling the pinch of people picking at your paycheck. Conversations about money are everywhere as the moment you leave the house someone is asking you to buy this, buy that, go here, go there, do this, do that. It has been a hard four years since C-19 started.

I don’t know what you learned during the past four years, eight years, twelve years, sixteen years or even twenty years, but one thing I have learned is that I want to live small so I can give big. No matter what the stock market does, no matter what the exchange rate is, no matter what gold and silver do, I have chosen to live small so I can give big. The reason I have decided to do this is because God is generous on all occasions and we are called to be like Him.

When we obey money we will make our life comfortable rather than seek to make someone else’s life enjoyable. Money is selfish by design, that is why we are called to not love money but to love God. God is generous by nature and will always give more than is deserved or expected. Giving unlocks something in the person you are giving to that we may not even know needs to be unlocked. Giving communicates to others something words can’t express. If you buy it for yourself, it does not carry the same love as if it is bought for you, given to you.

Generosity is a characteristic of God and is to be who we are, for people need to know they are loved and generosity communicates that in a way only the receiver understands. God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son; Jesus fed the 4,000 and the 5,000; we serve a generous God and we are called to be generous people. I pray you learn to live small so you can give big, it is a lifestyle that brings more joy than words can ever express. Try it, you may enjoy it more than you know.