Letting God Be Generous to Us
Grounding Our Generosity in God’s Generosity
Reflection By Scott Stoner
Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
- Luke 15:22-24 (ESV)
Sometimes we resist God’s generosity out of pride or fear. We may feel unworthy of God’s gifts, or we may worry that accepting them will somehow obligate us in ways we’re not prepared for. Yet spiritual maturity includes learning to be humble and grateful recipients of God’s abundant love.
There is a paradox in the spiritual life: we cannot truly give what we have not received. If we consistently refuse to let God be generous to us, we will find ourselves trying to give from empty wells. The most generous people are often those who have learned to welcome God’s gifts with open hearts and grateful spirits.
Consider how a flower absorbs sunlight. It doesn’t question whether it deserves the sun’s rays or worry about how to repay them. It simply opens its petals and takes in what it needs to grow and bloom. In the same way, we are invited to open our hearts to God’s generosity with childlike trust.
This Advent season offers us countless opportunities to practice receiving God’s gifts: the gift of rest, the gift of beauty in creation, the gift of relationships, the gift of hope that comes with the promise of Christ’s birth.
Making it Personal: In what ways might you be resisting God’s generosity? What would it look like to become more gracious in welcoming God’s gifts? Practice this today by consciously noticing one gift from God—whether it’s a moment of beauty, an act of kindness from another person, or simply the breath in your lungs—and receiving it with deliberate gratitude, without trying to “earn” it.