One of the greatest shifts the church is making, slowly, but surely is from obligation to generosity. Under the Aaronic priesthood the people of God were obligated to do the works of the law, to offer sacrifices for sins, to adhere strictly to the commandments. This system is what Jesus confronted when He walked the earth and the religious leaders were furious with Jesus because He was generous.

Generosity awakens something in us that is asleep. When Peter caught the miraculous load of fish in John 21, it awakened him to the reality that Jesus was not dead but alive. Following the law, the rules, the commands does not awaken us, it keeps us locked into a system of control that diminishes us.

The woman with the alabaster jar of perfume, generously poured perfume on Jesus’ feet and Judas was furious with her. What was supposed to awaken him to the soon coming death of Christ, embittered him against Jesus for not rebuking her for her generosity.

The word generosity is synonymous with righteousness. In Hebrew Sedaqa is righteousness and it is the root word for generosity. Sedaqa is aligned with Zedek or Melchizedek or the Zadok priesthood and it means king of righteousness or king of generosity. Jesus is of the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7), so He is the king of generosity or righteousness.

Our call is not to obligation, but to generosity. We are called to be generous with our time, our talents, our words, our money, our forgiveness, our everything. Selfishness, survival mode, causes us to be stingy, when the Lord is calling us to be generous. Generosity awakens something in us, but the question we must ask is… is generosity awakening anger in us like it did with Judas or gratitude like it did with Peter?

Generosity, the order of Melchizedek, is the order of the kingdom of God and some can’t enter into it, because generosity has awakened in them someone they did not know they were, until generosity came to their front door. Gratitude is the inoculation that keeps us healthy as God is very generous to us. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org