Quotes About Generosity

An old joke describes the difference between sacrifice and generosity. For a chicken to bring eggs to breakfast is generosity; for a pig to bring bacon is sacrifice. Generosity gives out of abundance; sacrifice costs us something.

Generally they are accustomed to giving resources to those from the non-Western world and find it very difficult to receive. Sometimes this is perceived as an attitude of superiority complex. We want those from the North American church to partner with us in ways that are mutually benefitting and uplifting; that way we don't think of them as benefactors.

The rich-poor gap challenges our commitment to incarnational living. We will need to adapt simpler lifestyles before we go, to live with diminished material expectations in an effort to increase incarnational effectiveness. And the entire church, so accustomed to spending huge sums on their own comforts and conveniences, must be reawakened to increased generosity and sacrifice.32

Through all the ages to come, the Indian church will rise up in gratitude to attest to the heroism and self-denying labors of the missionary body. You have given your goods to feed the poor; you have given your bodies to be burned. We also ask for love. Give us friends."3

The world we live in includes two Great Divides. Economically, the rich-poor divide calls us to lives of generosity. Theologically, the ways that we understand God and faith calls us to a globally expanded view of God.

Always try to be nice,' he hissed through the increasing pain. 'But never fail to be kind.

He graces you with good things because he is good, not because you are.

A joyful life of grace toward others grows best in the soil of gratitude. When I really reflect on who I am, when I take time to consider the grace that I couldn't have earned, achieved, or deserved but which has been lavished on me, and when I remember that that grace came at the cost of the life of another, then I am joyfully motivated to give that grace to others.

We were meant to do more than make sure that all of our needs are fulfilled and all our desires are satisfied. We were never meant to be self-focused little kings ruling miniscule little kingdoms with a population of one.

If you fail to carry around with you a heart of gratitude for the love you've been so freely given, it is easy for you not to love others as you should.

Envy denies grace. The assumption of envy is that we deserve what another has been given, when, in fact, you and I deserve nothing.

If I am hungry, that is a material problem; if someone else is hungry, that is a spiritual problem.

Be stingy of nothing but the name of friend, and take care not to waste your insults.

The most attractive people are those who make others feel attractive. Attractiveness requires an other focus rather than a self-obsession.

Oxytocin, it seems, oils the wheels of social life, enhancing trust, generosity, empathy and loyalty.

When you first get money, you buy all these things so no one thinks you're mean, and you spread it around. You get a chauffeur and you find yourself thrown around the back of this car and you think, I was happier when I had my own little car! I could drive myself!

Stop looking for love and start showing it.

You make a living out of what you get and make a life out of what you give...

you get nothing with a fist that you can't get in multitudes with your hand open.

In fact, if you are generous, or have a caretaking personality, they may treat you the worst.

5Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never forsake you or abandon you." 6Thus we may say with confidence: "The Lord is my helper, [and] I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?

10When you give, give generously and not with a stingy heart; for that, the LORD, your God, will bless you in all your works and undertakings.

Still hovering at the back of my mind is a stereotype of Norwegians as descendants of ax-wielding barbarians, but this ancient image clashes wildly with the gentleness, honesty and generosity of the Norwegians I have met on my journey.

But few have spoken of the actual pleasure derived from giving to someone, from creating something, from finishing a task, form offering unexpected help almost invisibly and anonymously.