Session 4

A Balancing Act

From The Blessed Life

Going to Kenya gave me a new perspective on “stuff.” I met people who live in conditions unimaginable in 21st century America. Still, I’ve never encountered a more generous people in all of my life. Their joy, hospitality and generosity shook me to the core. I didn’t come back to America angry at our wealth. I came back challenged to be radically generous with all that God has entrusted to me.

The prayer in Proverbs 3 acknowledges two fundamental truths: 
1) God is the provider of everything we have; 
2) We are inclined to mishandle poverty and riches alike.

Poverty requires big faith to trust God to meet our physical needs. Wealth requires big humility to acknowledge that God has entrusted us with His resources.

We can have too much and believe we earned it; that’s an age-old temptation. Big humility and even bigger gratitude to God dictates that we give generously. He who has much doesn’t have too much, and he who has little doesn’t have too little. When this works as it should, “...there should be no poor among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you.”

We are entrusted with God’s resources. Can He trust us to steward them with radical generosity?