Choose Joy. Choose Generosity.

Everything you have is a gift from God. Whether it’s your health, relationships, or money, you’re called to manage God’s gifts to further his purposes in the world.

David prayed, “For everything is from you, and what we give is what we have from you (1 Chronicles 29:14).” Like David, stewards recognize that the money they give to God’s work is only a small portion of what God has given them. Contrast that to someone with an owner mindset, who believes he’s the cause of all his material blessings. He will struggle to give. And when he does, it’s almost always painful.

When you believe that “every good and perfect gift is from above,” generosity isn’t just easier, it’s a joy (James 1:17; 2 Corinthians 9:7).

Jesus offers you a counterintuitive path to happiness: less stuff brings more blessing.

Our materialistic culture declares, “He who dies with the most toys dies happiest,” but Jesus taught, “Life doesn’t consist in an abundance of possessions” because “it’s more blessed to give than receive” (Luke 12:15; Acts 20:35). This explains why you experience far more joy when you give rather than spending on yourself. According to Jesus’s math, living on 90% is greater than living on 100%.

His followers refuse to shrink their lives by hoarding. You expand your life by giving.

John says that God loved the world so much that he gave (John 3:16). He didn’t give you wealth or health, but something far greater: himself (2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:5-8).

This means that in God’s economy, you spell love: G-I-V-E.

Jesus was the most generous person who ever lived precisely because he was the most loving person who ever lived. Now, he’s inviting you to join him in love by giving to others.

You’ll never regret imitating Jesus’s radical generosity.

The Bible teaches that giving trains you to trust God and become more Christlike (2 Cor. 9:6-11; Luke 6:38). Generosity makes you more joyful and less anxious, more abundant and less proud, more blessed and less empty (Matt. 6:24-34; 1 Tim 6:7-18; Prov. 22:9). Materialism and greed lose their hold on your heart, and you become more like Jesus.

But giving doesn’t just change you. It changes others. God uses your giving to bring people to faith, heal marriages, create community, care for the hurting, mentor students in challenging years, and help children love Jesus (Deut. 15:11).

Just think about it: you’re following Jesus today because someone else gave. Now it’s your turn.

Jesus offers you the greatest investment opportunity imaginable. You can exchange earthly treasure that rots and disappears for heavenly treasure that’s eternally secure and never fades (Matt. 6:19-21).

God says that in eternity you will only keep what you give away (Luke 12:13-21; Prov. 19:17; Ps. 112:5; Matt. 10:42). If he’s right, why would you grasp what you cannot keep when you can gain what you cannot lose?

The future reward God offers to those who give far outweighs the sacrifices we make in the present. That’s why no one in heaven regrets having been radically generous with their wealth before they died. when they die.