Philippians 4:17
“Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek the profit which increases to your account”.
Paul is excited for the Philippians. They are growing in Christ. Being generous with anything, especially money, is sign of maturity. We can be generous with our time, with sharing the credit, the best seat, our place in line and so on.
God is generous. When we look at Jesus, He was so humble it’s difficult to imagine. God let His entry to the world be in a borrowed barn. Not in a palace with soft sheets in a room set at the right temperature and with the best doctors. That is astounding. The witnesses were outcasts who may have been partially inebriated whose job was to take the night shift to watch sheep. Not the stars of society, not the wealthy, not the powerful… When Jesus began His ministry, He chose the uneducated that didn’t receive the best training. They were commoners (Acts 4:13). Nothing special about them. This is so unexpected. God has all power, yet He wanted Jesus to be at the level of ordinary people. Most of us remember the insecurity of youth and how being in the right group would have made things easier. It pains parents to see their child have difficulties. God gave all that specialness to others. He was generous.
When we are generous we are giving something special away. We could have used that for ourselves or someone close to us. It’s a risk when we do that. I could see parents arguing about giving something away that could have been used for their loved ones.
It takes faith to be generous. We are to trust that God has enough for us and our family. When we look at God’s example in not spoiling Jesus, we learn that things, power and position aren’t what’s important. As we walk with Christ we do that as an individual. We sacrifice things as we are generous and give it away. We trust that God’s got us. We don’t worry or fret. When we get married we now have a spouse that is part of the equation. We do need to be of like mind. We pray about things and give each other time. When children come along we do the same thing. We aren’t to hoard and seek for ourselves.
As christians we are to be part of a church. Our primary friend group is to be believers. We are to be a positive influence to each other. Hebrews 10:24 says, “And let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds”. We are to be a blessing. We step back and let others take the spotlight. We want to see others blessed. We pray for it. This takes time.
Paul is celebrating the Philippians. He isn’t feeling jealous, but is excited for this great growth. They are sacrificing for his welfare. He makes it clear that he isn’t concerned about the gift, but that they are giving of themselves. We would be blessed if our children were givers. We would be blessed if our friends were givers.
Lord, help us to be generous, help us to be a blessing to others that they duplicate our efforts. Help us to have the faith to be generous. Thank You for Your generosity. Simply amazing how You are so generous. Thank You for Jesus and His great sacrifice that saved us.