God Is Generous

In the parable of Jesus8, the labourers who were engaged last show nothing to warrant a claim to a full day’s wages; that they receive it is entirely due to the goodness of their employer. Thus in this apparently trivial detail lies the difference between two worlds: the world of merit, and the world of grace; the law contrasted with the gospel. . . . Will you then murmur against God’s goodness? That is the core of Jesus’ vindication of the gospel: Look what God is like—all goodness.

If this were the only story you knew about God, what would you conclude? I would believe that God does not behave anything like what I see in the world. In our world the parable told by the Jewish rabbis makes sense. The late workers worked harder and got what they deserved. But in Jesus’ parable I am struck by the utter gratuity of God. The late workers did not deserve a day’s wages! The God Jesus reveals runs counter to the way we are wired to think. Brennan Manning put it succinctly: “Jesus reveals a God9 who does not demand but who gives; who does not oppress but who raises up; who does not wound but heals; who does not condemn but forgives.”

Do you agree that God is generous and gives to us freely? Why or why not?

We live in a world where people demand, oppress, wound and condemn. In our world we earn what we get. So we project that onto God. It is easy to conceive of a demanding, oppressive, condemning, wounding god who must be appeased. The God Jesus knows is utterly generous.

Generosity happens when a person is living from a condition of abundance or when a person is moved by the needs of others. If I have three hundred tomatoes, it is easy for me to give dozens away. I have more than I need. I am giving out of my surplus. Webster’s New American Dictionary defines generous as “free in giving or sharing, abundant, ample, bountiful.” But I can also be generous even when I have little. I may have only one tomato, but if I see a poor woman who has none, I may very well be moved to give my last tomato to her. Generosity then flows from either a sense of abundance or a feeling of compassion. God is moved by both. God is generous because he lives in a condition of abundance—his provisions can never be exhausted—and God is moved with compassion because he sees our need.

Love and forgiveness, acceptance and kindness, are not commodities that diminish in their giving. When we offer forgiveness we do not have less of it, nor do we diminish our capacity to forgive each time we forgive. So why do we so seldom live generously? We live from a condition of scarcity. We never got enough love from our parents, enough toys on our birthday and enough affirmation from those who know us. Our checking account is limited, and often our money is spent before we earn it. Living from a condition of scarcity, we learn that we must protect what we have. If we give it away, we might end up in dire straits.

I am consistently amazed by how tightfisted and uncharitable we are when it comes to our churches. I had lunch with a pastor who was enraged about the prospect of a new church being built only a few miles from his. He said, “How dare they. Don’t they know that this new church will steal some of my people away?” He was operating from a condition of scarcity. He feared their success would make him look like a failure. He was unable to see that the success of this new church was also his success because we are all on the same team. The church is often a place lacking in generosity: All other churches are wrong. Only we have it right. Our church must succeed. Who cares if theirs fails?

What are some ways you have experienced the unearned blessings of God?

Our God, however, is constantly generous. Everything we have is a gift. We were made without any effort on our part. We breathe undeserved air. The sun gratuitously rises and warms our planet and, along with the unmerited rain, nourishes the land, yielding delicious fruits and grains. It is all manna, the unearned provision of a lavish and loving God. We have never been and never will be in a place where we can turn to God and say, “You owe me. I deserve this.” We do not deserve anything we have been given. We have earned nothing. Yet God continues to give. That is because God is not interested in what we can do for God. God is interested in something much more important than our good works.

Our thinking about life with God inevitably confronts us with this crucial question: What does God want from me? When Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment, he answered clearly: love God with all you have. If we asked Jesus, What does God want from me? I believe he would answer, God wants you to know and to love him. This narrative tells of a God who is loving and merciful, whose desire is to love and to be loved. This in no way negates the fact that God is unflinchingly against sin. God hates sin because it hurts his children. But God is crazy about his children.

The Westminster Larger Catechism, written in 1648, opens with a question and an answer:

Question: What is the chief and highest end of man?

Answer: Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.

How does it make you feel to know God delights in you? Why?

I love the concept of fully enjoying God forever. Do you think that God wants you to enjoy him? Though many people do not believe this, I think it is what God most wants. Julian of Norwich once wrote, “The greatest honor we can give to God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.” That statement shocked me when I first read it. The greatest honor we can give to God? Isn’t it to die for him on the mission field? Julian offers another narrative: “What God most wants is to see you smile because you know how much God loves you.” My mission-field narrative does not describe a God I would naturally love. Julian’s narrative tells me of a God I cannot help but love. The God Julian knew is a God who delights in us.

A far different narrative about God comes from Kathleen Norris’s Amazing Grace, where she tells a simple story of discovering God in the face of a child.

One morning this past spring10 I noticed a young couple with an infant at an airport departure gate. The baby was staring intently at other people, and as soon as he recognized a human face, no matter whose it was, no matter if it was young or old, pretty or ugly, bored or happy or worried-looking he would respond with absolute delight. It was beautiful to see. Our drab departure gate had become the gate of heaven. And as I watched that baby play with any adult who would allow it, I felt as awe-struck as Jacob, because I realized that this is how God looks at us, staring into our faces in order to be delighted, to see the creature he made and called good, along with the rest of creation. . . . I suspect that only God, and well-loved infants, can see this way.

What if God is not mad at you? What if God were actually like the one in this narrative, a God who responds to us with “absolute delight” regardless of how we look or feel, or what we have or have not done?

The only possible response would be to feel “absolute delight” in return. If God is delighted in me—regardless of my performance—then my immediate response is to feel love in return. And in so doing, I fulfill the greatest commandment. The narrative of the prophet lady does not lead me to love God, only to fear him. And her narrative uses fear and guilt to get me to change, and does not produce genuine change. The narrative that God loves us and longs for us to love him in return provides a genuine and lasting incentive to change.

Two of the most important verses in the Bible, in my opinion, are 1 John 4:10-11. They are the verses that began my own transformation by the renewing of my mind: “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.” These verses became the bedrock of my dominant narrative about God. Our love for God does not determine God’s attitude toward us. God loves us first, and we see that clearly in God’s Son offering his life in order to reconcile us to God. And that love propels me to love God and others in return. God first loved us and will never stop loving us. The primary thing God wants from us is not improved moral behavior (which will come), but to love God because he first loves us.

A. W. Tozer, the great American pastor and devotional writer (1897-1963), wrote:

What comes into our mind11 when we think about God is the most important thing about us. . . . Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, “What comes into your mind when you think about God?” we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man.

That is a bold statement: The most important thing about a person is what they think about God. After a lot of reflection, I believe he is absolutely right. Our thoughts about God will determine not only who we are but how we live. We can predict the “spiritual future” of a person just by knowing what they think about God.

What we think about God—what we think God is like—will determine the relationship we have with God. If we think of God as harsh and demanding, we will probably cower in fear and keep our distance from God. If we think of God as a vague and impersonal force in the universe, we will probably have a vague and impersonal relationship with this god. That’s why it’s crucial that we have the right thoughts about God. It will determine everything we do. If we have low or false views of God, we are actually committing a form of idolatry, worshiping a false god.

How do your beliefs about God explain how you live your life?

What I have discovered is this: when I came to know the God that Jesus revealed, I absolutely fell in love with God. The more I grasp about the nature and work of the triune God, the more I am enthralled with the truth, goodness and beauty of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I want to turn your attention to the God Jesus reveals. His God is good and beautiful, loving and trustworthy, self-sacrificial and forgiving, powerful and caring, and out for our good. I hope that when you finish this book, you will have fallen in love with the God Jesus knows, and that you will wake up inspired and enthused about living another day with this good and beautiful and generous God.