The Men of Iron Minute
by Steve Glick | Director of Marketing Strategy
The Generosity of Zacchaeus
This week on the podcast we sit down with our VP of Generosity, Josh Henson, to talk about what God says about generosity.
God is a generous God, and the Bible is full of examples of people who are generous too. The poor widow in Mark 12 who came and put in two very small copper coins. The feeding of the 5,000 was possible because of a young boy who offered up his 5 loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus with the ultimate example of generosity and giving of His life for our sins. As Josh said on the podcast, “We often look at generosity as a switch to turn on or turn off but God says there is an unlimited amount. God says in EVERY situation be generous.”
A lot of times we don’t run out of resources, we run out of faith. Jesus taught in Matthew 10 that even the smallest of gifts, like a cup of water, would not go without a reward.
When I think about biblical examples of generosity, Zacchaeus is a story that comes to mind.
At the time Zacchaeus was not a good man, he was an extortioner and public sinner. But on that day in Luke 19 Zacchaeus went to see Jesus.
Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Luke 19:8
When Zacchaeus met Jesus, Jesus called him by name, in that moment Zacchaeus turned from a life of extortion and turned to a life of generosity. He didn’t just offer to pay back those he extorted with the legal amount required, he said “I restore fourfold.” Zacchaeus now knew Jesus and it showed, he was so full of joy that his generosity was pouring out.
Culture says if you want it all go get it, but God says if you want it all you have to give it all.
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