What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day?
What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me?
Welcome back to season 6 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. In our next few moments together, we hope to learn some of the most important lessons from some of the simplest things in life. Thank you for taking this journey with me.
Having young children is fun as it comes in different stages. There is the newborn stage – which comes with all the coos and little sneezes, it’s adorable. Of course, it also comes with the sleepless nights, the meconium diapers, and the colic crying. Each stage has its good qualities and its harder qualities. The toddler stage is so fun to watch them discover so many new things, learn to speak, learn to walk, learn to play. Of course, it also comes with the inability to communicate like they want – which can lead to tantrums or other behavioral issues you have to direct them through. Well, we’ve finally entered the fun stage with our son of losing his baby teeth. Sure, his smile might look a little funky for a while with these big gaps of missing teeth, but it’s all part of the growing up process. His mouth is making room for his adult teeth, and pretty soon he’ll have his full happy smile once again. As a matter of fact, his mouth has been making a lot of room recently. He lost his first tooth on Sunday night, and the “tooth fairy” (yours truly) snuck in at night and replaced his tooth with a little note and $5 to go along with it. He woke up so excited the next day, with big plans of how he wanted to spend his newfound five dollars. Well, fast forward just two days – and on Tuesday he lost his second tooth! Once again, the “tooth fairy” snuck in to replace his second tooth with yet another note and another $5. The tooth fairy might need to pick up a side gig if this boy keeps losing teeth!
That brings us to Wednesday night. We were getting ready to walk out the door to go to Bible class, when Dane walked up with one of his $5 bills. “Dadda,” he said, “I already got $5, I don’t need my other $5. Can I just give this to God when we go tonight?” My little heart welled up. He’s always been such a generous boy, and always quick to serve others. I wrapped him up in a big hug and said, “Of course, son. You can put it in the basket when we get there.” And that’s exactly what he did. He went running through the door, waving his little $5 bill and promptly placed it in the basket before running off to go see his friends. I hung back towards the back visiting with others when Dane came running back up a few minutes later, holding something in his hands. I looked closer and clutched between his little fingers was a $5 bill. Yet as I looked back down, there sat the $5 bill he had already given still in the basket. “Son,” I asked, “where did you get that other $5?” “Miss Kristee gave it to me for losing my tooth!” he said with great excitement, showing off his toothless grin! I bent down and said, “You just learned a really important lesson son! You were really generous with your money, but guess what? God blessed you for being so generous through someone else! The tighter we hold on to our money, the harder it is for God to put something back in our hands. But the more we loosen our grip on the things we have, the easier it is for God to put something back in.”
Generosity is a quality that God expects of his people, because it is a quality of who God is himself. We read in Matthew 7:7-11, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.” We serve a generous God who has lavished us with every good and perfect gift from above. He has generously given us his Son, his grace, and all things that we need in Christ. When we need forgiveness, all we need do is ask. When we need help, just ask. When we need wisdom, just ask. To say that God is generous is an understatement. He is overflowing with mercy, grace, and lovingkindness towards those who love him.
If God is generous to us in this way, it would follow then that generosity should be a natural fruit of those who pattern themselves after him. In fact, it is an expectation of the children of God and always has been. We read in Deuteronomy 15:7-8, “If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your city gates in the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever need he has.” God had great expectations of the children of Israel. As God had been generous to them in their great need, so his people were to do the same for others. Freely they had received, freely they were to give. This expectation was not only for the children of Israel, but also for us as the children of God. Consider the text of Hebrews 13:16, “Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.” To be generous and share the blessings we have been given is likened unto a pleasing sacrifice to God. God delights in our generosity, just as my heart was delighted to see my son’s generosity with his tooth fairy money. To quote Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “God loves a cheerful giver.”
This brings us to our final point, and to make it we will stay in 2 Corinthains 9 but look particularly at vv. 6 – “The point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.” The Lord rewards those who are generous, knowing that they will use any further blessing to continue to serve and do good for others. This is a biblical principal that is repeated on far more than one occasion, and it is the reality that my son experienced this past week. Consider all of the following Proverbs which emphasize the same message. Proverbs 11:24-25, “One person gives freely, yet gains more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor. A generous person will be enriched, and the one who gives a drink of water will receive water.” Proverbs 19:17, “Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and he will give a reward to the lender.” Proverbs 22:9, “A generous person will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.” Proverbs 28:27, “The one who gives to the poor will not be in need, but one who turns his eyes away will receive many curses.” All of these Proverbs teach the same general principle: the Lord will continue to bless and reward those who honor him with their wealth. It most certainly is NOT the health and wealth gospel, as many falsely teach in this day and age. Godliness is never a means to attain wealth, and the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. But to the one who loves God, whose hope is set on him and not possessions, who is ready and willing to part with their wealth to serve and do good, this is the one whom the Lord will bless.
My friends, the message is simple, and it is the same message I taught my son on Wednesday night. The tighter we hold fast to our money, the harder it will be for God to put anything else into our hands. But the more generous we are, and the more we loosen our grip on the things we have and share them, the easier it will be for God to put more back into our hands. Let us conclude with the words of Christ from Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over—will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
This has been season 6 episode 23 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast – and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together! A new episode is dropped each Friday of the week. If you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, give us a good rating, and tune in next week. Even more important, share the spiritual truths that we learned today with someone else. And more than anything my friends, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.
