Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24
“Consider that there is an absolute necessity of our complying with the difficult duties of religion. To give to the poor in the manner and measure that the gospel prescribes is a difficult duty, i.e. it is very contrary to corrupt nature, to that covetousness and selfishness of which there is so much in the wicked heart of man. Man is naturally governed only by a principle of self-love. And it is a difficult thing to corrupt nature, for men to deny themselves of their present interest, trusting in God to make it up to them hereafter.
But how often hath Christ told us the necessity of doing difficult duties of religion, if we will be his disciples; that we must sell all, take up our cross daily, deny ourselves, renounce our worldly profits and interests, etc. And if this duty seem hard and difficult to you, let not that be an objection with you against doing it. For you have taken up quite a wrong notion of things if you expect to go to heaven without performing difficult duties; if you expect any other than to find the way to life a narrow way.”
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) in Christian Charity or The Duty of Charity to the Poor, Explained and Enforced (1732) section III.3.
The biggest thing I have learned about the difficult duties of the Christian life, is that they aim not to take away from us but release us from what seems like good things so we can grasp better things.
But we don’t figure it out until we live it out.
Edwards nails it when he states that our nature leans toward covetousness, selfishness, and wickedness. It does. This leads us to trust ourselves and focus on worldly interests.
So, what’s the lesson today for those who want to grow in generosity?
If there is a difficult duty in the Christian life or a step God is calling you to take to trust Him, then ask God to help you in your unbelief. Then take the step relying on Him and see what happens.