Bountiful and Cheerful!

The change of perspective that the Faith offers us extends to our possessions, our talents, and our motivation. At least, it's supposed to!

As someone who has spent most of my adult life either as a police officer or in the nonprofit world, I can tell you that generosity is both addictive and life-giving.

It is. Studies have shown that generosity can have real psychological effects on one’s behavior and mood. And it seems we Americans are more generous than ever, but our generosity is changing.

In the past few years, many non-profits (this one included have participated in #Giving Tuesday. This focus was started to compete with the “Black Friday” shopping frenzy after the Thanksgiving holidays and to remind people that Thanksgiving and Christmas are about gratitude, not consumption.

Well, it’s an excellent and well-intentioned effort. Still, most nonprofits know that their yearly budgets are raised during the last six weeks of any given year.

So, as Orthodox Christians, what medicine does the Faith offer us to develop healthy generosity? And why do the Fathers of the Church regularly discuss generosity as one of the three pillars of spiritual disciplines for Orthodox Christians?

Look at our lesson in 2 Corinthians 9:6-11:

Brethren, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work. As it is written, “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for great generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

St. Paul lays out the Normal Orthodox Way for us to develop healthy generosity in our everyday lives.

First, Reaping and Sowing. Sadly, this idea has been so very much abused by some in American Christianity. Some have suggested that this has everything to do with “how much” you plant. But there is more to it than that shallow idea!

Reaping and sowing take thought, planning, purpose, and a sober mind. This principle of generosity flows from knowing about the Faith you are investing your life into. When you see the Treasure you possess, you are given insight into how that Treasure should be valued in your everyday life. If you show by your life that your Faith is merely a hobby, you shouldn’t be surprised when it produces so little effect. By the way, your children see this too!

Next, Freely Give. Shame, manipulation, and guilt will NEVER produce generosity.

Never.

Sadly, most of us make excuses about this reality in our lives. The most negative comments from my preaching and teaching come when I talk about money and funding the Church, as the Church deserves to be supported. And that’s because people either suffer from the notion they “have to” or are wounded from being “forced to.” Out of that challenge flows all kinds of bad attitudes toward our possessions or priorities for our giving. When you see your giving change from being based on “need” to being motivated by “gratitude,” you will become generous.

Finally, Giving Cheerfully. The actual Greek word can be translated as “hilariously.”

Isn’t that delightful? God wants us to give from a “hilarious heart.” That heart will only be created in your chest from Faith and Love. When you are convinced that God loves you and that He is caring for you, you will be free to hold your life loosely in your hands instead of gripping your possessions to you to “ease” your fear of the future. When you give as God gives, then you are truly generous.

St. Hilarion was born at the end of the third century AD to pagan parents in Tabatha, near Gaza. He was sent to Alexandria for his education and learned of the Christian faith there. While he was in Egypt, he heard St. Anthony preach and was amazed at St. Anthony's holiness. Hilarion decided to give his life to the monastic discipline, so he returned to Gaza to devote himself to prayer and fasting. Because of his focused life, many miracles began to occur in St. Hilarion’s prayers, which made him the object of crowds wherever he was. To have some solitude, he left the area and returned to Egypt, but no matter how hard he tried to hide his life, the grace of God generously flowed from him, and the crowds found him again. He left Egypt for Libia, then to Sicily, and finally, he settled on Cyprus, where he reposed in peace in 372 AD at eighty years of age.

Today, what kind of “giver” are you? Are you attentive to the power of generosity to make you like Jesus Christ? Normal Orthodoxy is a generous and purposeful Orthodoxy. Is that who you are?

P.S. With the rivers of your tears, you have made the barren desert fertile. Through sighs of sorrow from deep within you, your labors have borne fruit a hundred-fold. By your miracles you have become a light, shining upon the world. O Hilarion, our Holy Father, pray to Christ our God, to save our souls.

Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouragedTV