But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always exceling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58
“Community is the place where people give to one another. We are not God, but we can be mediators (in a limited way) of the unlimited love of God. Community is the place of joy and celebration where we can say to one another, “Be of good cheer: the Lord has overcome the world, the Lord has overcome the evil one. Do not be afraid.” In that sense the victory has already come. It is the victory of the cross, it is the victory of the naked one on the cross, a victory over death. Love is stronger than death, and community is the place where you and I continue to let the world know that there is something to celebrate, something to be joyful about, something to be ecstatic about – ecstasy, ecstasies, in the sense of moving out of the static place of death. Community is the place from which we speak the Good News to the world: “Don’t be afraid. Look, it has already happened. Christ is risen.”
Henri J. M. Nouwen in The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life, compiled and edited by Wendy Wilson Greer (New York: Crossroad, 1999) 129-130.
Does your generosity include the dispensing of love. Because of the communion we enjoy at the foot of the cross, Jesus has made us “mediators (in a limited way) of the unlimited love of God.”
One of my mentors, Rob Martin, calls this the communion of giving and receiving. We give and receive because of the victory of Jesus on the cross and because of God’s matchless love toward us.
We cannot share, however, what we do not have. We cannot bless others with this love unless we have received it. Take a moment and thank God for His grace lavished on you through Jesus and consider how it might inspire your growth in generosity.