By L. Joy Douglas

joy4rain@aol.com

Recently, our church had a guest speaker fill in while the Pastor was out of town. Within the first sixty seconds of listening to his sermon, I knew that this was a topic I wanted to hear more about! I was drawn in quickly by the way he made his words so applicable to our daily lives, and decided before the service was over that the message from that morning was one I needed to share with others.

I always knew that generosity was a marvelous character trait and definitely one to strive for. Having a heart to give to others is a high virtue and one that brings joy not only to the receiver, but to the giver as well. Generosity is defined as "liberality in giving or willingness to give". It means not holding back when it comes to what you can do for the people around you.

For example, let’s take a look at the "funnel theory". Imagine a traditional funnel, wide at the top tapering down to a narrow outlet at the bottom. You can fill the top quickly, but eventually you have to stop. Because of the slow progress, it takes much more time to empty the funnel than to fill it. From a spiritual perspective, we must learn to widen the bottom of our "funnel". In this way, we increase the blessings poured out to others while at the same time making room for God to bless us as abundantly as He wants to. This is called the Principle of Replenishment: The more generous we are, the more generous God is with us! The term replenish means "filling again by supplying what has been used up".

Take a look at all these passages that exemplify the Principle of Replenishment!

"You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." (2 Corinthians 9:11)

"Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to." (Deuteronomy 15:10)

"They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed." (Psalm 37:26)

"Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice." (Psalm 112:5)

"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." (Proverbs 22:9)

I have heard people say (and have said it myself in the past) that if you do and do for others, eventually you will become empty with nothing left to give. According to the Principle of Replenishment, that is a completely false concept! I have come to believe that there is a distinct difference between pure giving from one’s heart and taking on the burdens of another. Although we are encouraged to share one another’s burdens, we cannot allow ourselves to fall into the trap of trying to "fix" those things that are not our responsibility or even within our power to fix! That is when we find ourselves overcome with spiritual fatigue and emotional weariness that makes it difficult to want to give anything further. The truth is that blessing others makes room for us to receive more blessing! Consider these quotes:

"Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as ever you can." -John Wesley (English Evangelist, founder of Methodism)

"The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own." -Lao Tzu (Chinese taoist philosopher)

Even if you find yourself currently feeling as if your funnel is empty, pray that God will help you to widen it in order to bless those He places in your life. As He does, you will see greater increase from His hand upon your own life!

"A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." (Proverbs 11:25)

Copyright L. Joy Douglas