The generous person
By emptychair
@innertalks (23734)
Australia
November 8, 2023 11:40pm CST
Generosity is a quality exhibited by someone who is closely connected to God.
On the other hand, someone who is selfish, wanting to only take, and not give, has turned their back on God.
God is a generous God, and we should endeavour to live our own life, in a generous way too, giving generously of ourselves, and of our time, to others.
Generosity, at its heart, is being kind to others.
True generosity is not being stingy with love; you love fully, and totally, not halfheartedly, or only with a token of love, and so not with love itself.
True generosity is giving of your knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of truth, and not holding back on the sharing.
When it boils down to it, only the humble person can be generous. Anyone trying to be generous, who is not humble, is giving with strings attached to the giving.
Generosity opens our heart, and keeps it open.
When we stop being generous, our heart starts to close up then.
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
Generosity often starts from just having a nice smile on your face, and one in your heart too.
7 people like this
5 responses
@porwest (112717)
• United States
9 Nov 23
Astute words here. I would only add, or perhaps remind people, that generosity is not only about what you give in terms of money, food or time. But also in information. I may not be generous monetarily, for example, but I am generous in the advice I give to help others become more financially secure.
In an way, I tend to see SOME generosity as more selfish than generous. If I give a man who is hungry a loaf of bread, it feeds him. Sure. But clearly what is more valuable, perhaps, is my ability to get that loaf of bread for the hungry man and the knowledge of how I was not only able to have a loaf of bread for myself. But one to give away.
If I don't share what I know about how to get a loaf of bread, is that not being selfish in a way? And if I can teach the man to get his own bread, is that perhaps the MOST generous thing I could do?
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. I could be wrong, but I believe that's somewhere in the Bible.
Generosity may make ME feel good. But if that generosity has no real impact on the life I am being generous to...who's getting the gain from the generosity? Me? Or him? It's me of course. And thus, I go back to the selfish side of generosity many people tend not to see or fully comprehend.
I fed a man for a day. Great. I feel good about that. But if despite my generosity he is hungry again tomorrow? What did I really gain? Or more importantly, how did my generosity actually have a meaningful impact?
I feel good. But he remains hungry.
2 people like this
@porwest (112717)
• United States
10 Nov 23
@innertalks I think the bottom line for me is that it's never a simple thing as most things are never simple. As for, "Sometimes, people just do not want to be given wisdom, or taught how to fish, though, and perhaps it might take a good psychologist to sort some people out." Man, you KNOW it. And being one who gives financial advice, for example, to deaf ears more often than not, I definitely know MORE people are this way than not.
You know, I think back to FDR and the generosity he must have felt, when he created a system that would help the less fortunate. A system that only grew poverty and made it worse. I wonder what he would think today of what he created, and at the same time, question how generous his plan really was?
Had he fostered an environment of LEARNING as opposed to an environment of DEPENDENCE, he may have actually accomplished something. It's like the old school of thought. Give a cat a bowl of milk and he has no reason to hunt, and therefore, stops hunting.
2 people like this
@just4him (323168)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
10 Nov 23
@innertalks Yes, we should. The Bible says we are to be imitators of Christ Jesus.
1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (NKJV)
2 people like this
@innertalks (23734)
• Australia
10 Nov 23
@just4him Yes, thanks.
And it is the same with love, we should try to love as God, and Jesus, loved too; only then can we start to know them.
1 John, chapter 4, verse 8:
"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
@innertalks (23734)
• Australia
10 Nov 23
Yes, God is vastly generous to all of his creation, and we should try to be generous to other parts of his creation too.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23734)
• Australia
9 Nov 23
Yes, genuine generosity always makes one feel good inside, and even being generous for gain, of some type, usually allows someone to feel a little good inside too.
You cannot be generous without some of the good deed rubbing off on yourself too.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23734)
• Australia
10 Nov 23
Yes, if I had more money, I might be more generous too. For now, I have to watch my pennies, as there are not too many to give away to others.
The rich can afford to be generous, but some of them do it for ulterior reasons, to look good in public eyes, for example.
We can also be generous in the way we talk to others too, though, giving out kind words, and a smile, to them too.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23734)
• Australia
9 Nov 23
Yes, I agree, to be happy, we need to be generous, otherwise, we can never be truly happy, but always will keep something back, in our being too mean to be generous.
2 people like this
