Why It’s Genius to be Generous by Chip Ingram

I'm not sure where I got the idea, but until mid-20's, I thought generosity was something reserved for people who were either very rich or very holy. Growing up in a middle class family in central Ohio, I knew I was neither.
Now don't get me wrong. I knew that being selfish was completely unacceptable. But generosity in my young mind was reserved for another day-like when I win the lottery or make it to the major leagues or own my own business. Sharing, kindness, being fair, and appearing relatively generous were all values I embraced and sought to practice, but genuine, open-handed, even lavish generosity was something for the rich and the ultra-virtuous.

In my mind, generosity required a lot of things I knew I didn't have, like a big bank account and an even bigger heart for God and others. Generosity seemed like a characteristic you might try to develop someday when the chips fall your way and you have some extra to spread around. It was like Christianity's grad school. Besides, I was having a pretty hard time just making ends meet. I thought of the Christian life as a bit like being in the military in those days. I joined the army of God to fulfill a mission as day by day I sought to follow Christ.
To me, generosity was reserved for "the few, the proud, the Marines." It might be a great thing to aspire to, but certainly not something within the grasp of a very ordinary Christ-follower like myself.
But that all changed when I met a man names John Saville.
I would learn then that generosity has little or nothing to do with how much money you have or how far along you perceive yourself to be on your spiritual journey. In fact, I was shocked to learn that bring generous has much more to do with being smart, shrewd, wise, and deliriously happy. In a word, I discovered that generosity is GENIUS!