We love because God first loved us. We forgive because God forgave us first. We extend mercy because of the mercy our Lord extended to us beforehand. We show compassion because of the compassion first granted to us by our tenderhearted Father. And we are hilarious givers because God first poured out in lavish abundance his extravagant goodness and every possible gift we could ever need. And why do we follow in God’s footsteps to do what he does? Because we are created in His image and share in his likeness. We are children of the King, partakers of the divine nature, and one with the Trinity because we’ve been ‘de-otherized’ through Christ’s death and resurrection to be in perfect union with our Creator. In short, our most authentic self is just like our Dad!
I remember as a young, excited follower of Jesus how I discovered the sheer joy of giving. I was part of our church college choir and each Monday evening when we gathered to rehearse, we would first share testimonies of God’s goodness as well as prayer requests, followed by a time of praying for each other. It’s uncanny how even though this sharing time often took up the major portion of our rehearsal, our harmonies were unusually tight, packed full of hope and passion. Our pianist shared one evening how much he was struggling financially and asked us to pray. I was a college student working several part time jobs to make ends meet myself, which should tell you all you need to know about how much spare money I had. Yet I couldn’t get my friend’s need out of my mind driving home that night. So, I wrote a short anonymous note of encouragement and folded it in thirds around two five-dollar bills before placing it in an envelope and sending it with no return address to my friend in need. Why two five-dollar bills? Because that’s all I had in my possession at the time. Ten dollars in 1983 to a college student counting every penny was like giving my last pair of shoes to someone who had none. I knew that amount of money wasn’t going to solve his financial woes but there was an growing giddiness rising up in me, like I was sharing an inside secret with my best friend Jesus, to be a blessing to this young man. The following week during our sharing time, our pianist said to the group, “I have to share something with you all that completely blew me away this past week. I got a letter in the mail addressed to me with no return address. Oh great! Someone wants to tell me off and doesn’t have the guts to share who they are. So, I opened the envelope and when I unfolded the letter inside, two five-dollar bills fell out and floated to the floor. I looked down at the bills for quite some time with stunned silence. Finally, I read the note of encouragement. I was filled with tremendous hope that my Father knows me and sees me—that I am not forgotten. My heart is filled with so much gratitude.” As he was sharing, I had my perfect game face on, not for an instant giving him a clue that the money could have come from me. But inside…oh inside I was screaming! This joy welling up inside was almost too much to contain. But contain it I did until I was in the safety of my car driving home with Jesus that night. That’s when I let those screams out in a delirium of elation the entire way home! That’s when I first knew to the core of my being what Jesus had told his followers, “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.” This was the first time I remember giving with hilarious generosity.
Fast forward to July 17, 1997, fourteen years later when we were in need of hilarious generosity. God was leading Suzanne and myself to plant a church. It’s super scary to leave the known commodity of a monthly paycheck from my previous church to dive into the unknown waters of having to trust God daily for our provision. And now we had two young sons to care for as well. Suzanne went back to work part-time, and I devoted myself to shepherding a small community of Jesus lovers who wanted to go deep with us to encounter his love and goodness. In this place of wanting to trust God but feeling like we were in way over our heads, we attended a huge church conference to hopefully get some answers. Wouldn’t you know that the speaker addressed the need to trust God for big things he wanted to do in and through us and to come forward for prayer if we needed the grace to take bold steps forward with God. Suzanne and I made our way down to the front with hundreds of others to receive prayer. We said with sincerity, “We trust you, Father, even if we have no idea where your provision will come from.” It felt good, like taking a much-needed bath. As we were turning around to go back to our seats, a young man named Bubba Justice, a pastor from Inverness, Alabama, walked right up to us and handed us a $20 bill as he said, “Out of obedience, I am supposed to give this to you as a sign of God’s provision for you.” Then he laid his hands on us and prayed as we wept through it all. Our Father was telling us, “I know you and I see you. I’ve got you! Trust me.” How could I remember this man’s name and where he was from after almost three decades? Because we still have that $20 bill inside of a frame along with the words Bubba Justice spoke when he followed the Spirit’s leading to bless us. We keep that framed memento on our wall as a constant reminder that the extravagant blessings of God are never going to end nor even fade in the slightest.
More times than I can remember, when we’ve been in need, God showed up in an astounding way. And more times than I can remember, we’ve had the privilege of partnering with God to be part of his hilarious generosity for someone else in need. And can I tell you; it never gets old! As his child, you get to release the generous heart of your Father as the hilarious giver you are by nature.
Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One,
who grants us every spiritual blessing in these heavenly realms
where we live in the Anointed—
not because of anything we have done,
but because of what He has done for us.
Ephesians 1:3 (Voice) | 
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