I’ll admit it. I’m pretty stingy when it comes to my time.

My days are full. My calendar is tight. I call it efficiency. I wonder if this is the way it’s supposed to be?

Proverbs 11.24 says “The world of the generous gets larger and larger” (MSG). The Apostle Paul understood this verse well. He travelled a lot. He visited a lot of places, established lots of churches, and met with kings and leaders. But the Macedonian churches stood out to him because of their generosity. In explaining their generosity to the church in Corinth, Paul noted, “They gave themselves first to the Lord, and then by the will of God to us” (II Cor. 8.5 ESV).

They were generous with God, and then they were generous with others. And that’s the way it seems to go. If I get stingy in my time with God, then I’ll be stingy in my relationships with others. If I’m rich in my relationship with God, then I’ll be rich in my relationships with others. It goes without saying that if I’m rich in these relationships that I’ll be generous with my money as well.

Sadly, I know it’s true that sometimes it’s easier to give my money than it is to give my time. But is that really generosity? Or is it a bribe?

Generous people seem to have more time. They are not stingy with it.  They are relaxed.  I can’t recall a single time where Jesus said he was too busy.

Henri Nouwen said it this way, “My whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered the interruptions were my work.”

Bill High

Bill is CEO & Founder of Vyne Legacy. He works with families to equip them with tools to build multigenerational legacies, and he teaches givers and financial advisers on transformational biblical generosity. He is the co-author with David Green of Giving It All Away and Getting It All Back Again: The Way of Living Generously.

Published March 8, 2016

Topics: Generosity

Everyday GenerosityGiving