Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Do you know any generous people? I really want to be a lot more generous than I am. I’ll also ask, do you know stingy people? I found out generous people are generally happier people, and stingy people are generally not as happy as generous people.
God Provides All of Our Needs
I very simply want to look at two promises that show God meets all of our needs. First of all, God provides for all of our needs. Paul is writing while he is in prison. Philippians is an epistle of joy and encouragement in the midst of adverse circumstances. Despite all of this, Paul says this beautiful promise: God will provide all your needs.
"And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs." I love how he connects God's personal care for Paul in meeting his needs. Paul can basically say experientially, God's met my needs. He's going to take care of all of your needs—your family needs, the needs that you have in your job, the needs that you have for yourself personally. I mean, God promises to meet all of our needs.
I love the passage in Psalm 23 verse 1: "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want." Jesus in Matthew chapter 6 says, "Don't worry. Don't worry about what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink, what you're going to wear." When Jesus said that to those people in that day, "don't worry about what you're going to eat, drink, or wear"—that was a big, big deal. It's big for us, but especially big for them. No refrigerators, no microwaves. He said, "Don't worry about what you're going to eat, drink, or wear. Look at the birds of the air. They don't store in barns." And He goes on saying all of this, and then in verse 33 He says, "Seek the Kingdom first, and all these things shall be added to you." He says, all the needs that you have, I'm going to make sure you have everything you need. Whatever you need, I'm going to supply it. Paul says very simply, the words of the Lord: I’m going to supply all your needs.
God Has All You Need
Secondly, God has no needs. Another way to say it is God has all you need. The passage right there in front of us—God's going to take care of me, Paul says, and He will supply all your needs from His glorious riches. That means God's abundantly wealthy. He doesn't have any lack—"which have been given to us in Christ Jesus." God has everything that you and I need.
Psalm 50 says He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. The Book of Job says He hangs the earth on nothing. In Genesis, He's created the heavens and the earth. I mean, He has this amazing ability to create, and He can certainly provide for all of your needs. God promises to meet all your needs, and He's going to give you everything you need.
Application: Living Generously
Very simply, here are some quick application points, and these are incredibly challenging to me as I think about them. What do we do with this verse? God says He's going to meet all of our needs. What do we do?
Number one, get rid of stinginess. Somebody once said this: the stingy life is the selfish life. If we live stingy lives, it almost makes it look like God is kind of stingy. If I'm living an excessively miserly life, it almost sounds like God's this miserly god. I'm not saying don't be disciplined. Let's be frugal at points, be economical and be wise with our budget. But we want to avoid stinginess.
I think in my life there's times where I'm stingy, and maybe I'll leave a conversation or leave a situation—maybe had an opportunity to meet a need and I was stingy. My wife is the generous one in our family, and she's ready to meet needs all the time. We’ll go back to our house or in our car, and I’ll realize, oh, you're right, honey, we should have given this, we should have given that. Let's do what we can to get rid of stinginess.
Secondly, let's give our life away. If God says He's going to meet all of our needs, let's give our life away—our time, our talent, our treasure. Jesus gave everything for you and for me. He lived a perfect life, He died a terrible death, and He lives a life for you and for me. He gives us forgiveness, our greatest need. Then He says, you know what? In your daily life, until you get to heaven and then forever in eternity, I'm going to meet all of your needs.
Let's be those people who understand God's going to meet all my needs, and He promises to take care of me now and forever. Let's live as though we have an amazingly gracious, generous God—because we do.
