I Am Generous
Whenever the jackpot of the lottery gets BIG, it seems there is elevated talk about the lottery. Did you get your ticket? Did you pick your numbers or do quick pick? Then you get stories of how you should purchase them at this place and not that place or special rituals people do.
There is a scene in the movie Grumpier Old Men where one of the guys plans his TV dinner around the announcement of the lottery numbers. It is part of his weekly ritual to make his meal and have his lottery ticket right there to check the numbers as they are announced.
Everyone seems to have a grand plan of how they will spend the money if they win. They will buy a house, take a long trip to some exotic location and purchase a fancy new car. The plans rarely account for practical things like, pay off credit card debt or student loans. Some people include a large donation to a favorite charity, however often after they have allocated for what they want to get first.
These dreams are just dreams because if they really do win the lottery, there are plenty of strings attached. The money is heavily taxed so whether the winner chooses a lump sum or a yearly draw, the amount the won is much larger than what they ultimately get. Then in addition to the government, there are several other people who will be there ready to help them spend it.
The winners become the most popular people on the planet. Long lost friends and family members appear from what seems like thin air asking for loans or giving advice on how to spend it. Other people who didn’t give them much attention before they won, now act as though they’ve been best friends for years.
Sometimes the original grand plan actually works out, but statistics show most lottery winners’ lives don’t really change as drastically as you’d think. The money goes away faster than imagined and their left with the same old life they had when they first purchased the lottery ticket.
The lottery is all based on chance. Though some people claim there are more winners coming from certain states and that more winners are from small towns, there is no rhyme or reason to any of it. One person’s odds of winning is the same as another’s so long as they both only purchased one ticket.
God’s generosity is not a lottery system. It’s not set up where everyone gives and he dishes out love, forgiveness, and mercy according to what they give. God takes what he has, which is an endless supply for all of it, and he divides it up equally for everyone. He gives more than is needed and more than you could ever use…enough to share.
Unlike the lottery winners, you don’t have to purchase a ticket to win with God. You are already a winner by simply existing. You don’t even need to acknowledge God’s existence before you receive God’s blessings in your life.
Also unlike with the lottery winners, the winnings are not taxed so much there is barely any left. NO! God’s prizes multiply the more you share them. The more you love, the more love you receive. The more you share forgiveness, the more you will be forgiven. The more mercy you show, the more mercy will be shown in return. The abundance is crazy!
Now, there might be some similarities, such as long-lost family and friends coming back into your life and making new friends each day. These types of things tend to happen to people who reflect God’s love, forgiveness and mercy because more people want to be around them.
Though there are no official reports, but I’d guess that 100% of those who receive God’s abundant generosity have the same if not more than when they first received it. Even those who don’t acknowledge God cannot deny his generosity in their lives, though they might not identify them as such. Some examples might be their children or their admiration of a beautiful sunset, both gifts from God, freely given. Yep, we didn’t have to buy a lottery ticket to win them!
