The portrait of a Jesus follower can be summarized in one word: generosity. Jesus was the most generous man to ever walk the earth, and he charged those who follow him to do the same—“even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). To be like Jesus is to be generous. Generous with our time, talent, treasures, and testimony. 

Jesus gave of his time by stepping into time and meeting people in the marketplace, in their homes, and on the streets. He met them where they were and made them well simply by taking the time to notice and sit with them. In being like Jesus, we are called to do the same with our time. We can do this within the structure of the church with things like marriage mentoring and discipleship opportunities; however, we can also accomplish this personally by simply taking someone to coffee, inviting people into our homes, stopping to notice people in town, and more. Giving of our time is simply pausing to notice and love people where they are.

Jesus redeems our talents. When he called his 12 disciples he didn’t give them new talents, he took the talents they had, stepped into them, and made them whole. The same is true for us. Jesus wants us to use the talents he has given us to make a difference in our community. He doesn’t want to change our skills, he wants to step into them and make them holy. When we allow Jesus to redeem our talent, communities are transformed by the Gospel. To read more about how Jesus redeemed the disciples talents, read Luke 5:1-11.

Every good and perfect gift comes from the father above (James 1:17), meaning everything belongs to God himself. Giving of our finances is an overflow of what the Lord has done for us, in us, and through us. As we use our time and talent to invest in what the Lord is doing, he begins to shift our heart and passion toward financially investing in that very thing. By giving of our money to the work of the Lord we first recognize that everything belongs the the Father, and second we recognize that there is power in being financially generous. For more context on financial generosity and how the Lord uses our generosity into the Kingdom of God visit Mark 12:41-44.