God has given us:

Time.

Money.

Talents.    

Do we own them or do we steward them?  

If we own them, then we can do whatever we want with them. If we are stewards of them, then we are accountable for how they are used. Millions of Americans are living without financial margin, spending more than they earn.  This type of living leads us to miss one of the biggest blessings from God:  

Freedom from the mastery of money.  

To live in financial freedom, requires living generously and keeping your focus off of the “Jones” down the street, that are actually broke. 

Martha and I learned so long ago that we are to be good stewards of all that we have. Whether we have little or much. Whether we drive nice cars or not so nice. Being a good steward means to hold possessions loosely, so we don’t miss the opportunity to be generous. 

God does not bless us so that we can increase our status of living! He Blesses us to increase our status of GIVING! 

Sharing from our abundance is easy, but Jesus taught us about the widow who gave a coin from all that she had. Now that is faith.  Tithing is the only math equation that doesn’t seem to balance.  Everything in the universe can be explained with math but not the Tithe.   100% of what you have minus 10% of what you give equals 100% of what you need.  100 – 10 = 100.  IT works every time.  Tithing teaches us to trust the Almighty Generous God.

Are you really generous?  If I showed up at your home and asked to borrow something and would you say yes?  Would you just give it to me?  Are you a tither?  Do you stock pile money to help others or for your dream vacation?

Now, Generosity of our time.  

There are 168 hours in any given week. 24 hours in a day and only 365 days in a year.   We don’t get to replenish our time. Our days are numbered.  We should look at time much like we do money, as a matter of stewardship.

God gives us the breath in our lungs and has numbered our days.  

Focusing our time on others leads us to be more like Jesus.  Jesus never hoarded his time. He gave his time to others – except for his daily quiet time with His Father.   How do you spend your time?  Do you freely give it to others or is every moment planned on your calendar?  Have you ever thought to build time into your calendar for interruption or extra conversations?  

Our time is not our own, just like our money is not our own. Let’s give it away and find freedom like we’ve never experienced before.

Live Generously – check out this website - https://generousgiving.org/

Next week – Living Beyond Sunday – Generosity in our Talents