Day 4: Your Heart Will Follow

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Transcript
You may have heard the quote from Thomas Edison, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” What you may not know is that he said it more than once. Edison is known to have said that (or something like that) several times throughout his life, highlighting that being inspired, or having an idea, is only the starting point. It takes work. It takes practice.

Ask any successful business person, athlete, teacher, or anyone else who has maximized their potential, and they’ll say the same thing: ability and goals only get you so far. Real progress happens when you hit the gym, the lab, or the classroom. We improve by leaps and bounds when we don’t just want to be better at something, but when we make a plan and actually do it.

When it comes to generosity, it’s the same thing. Most of us want to be generous. We’ve got inspiration. But sometimes we lack the necessary perspiration to actually work out and implement a plan to be generous.

Generous people have a plan. It’s premeditated, calculated, and designated. That means you decide where to give ahead of time. When Jesus followers practice this type of generosity, they’re seeking first a kingdom other than their own.

In the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus covered lots of different topics, he talked about this very idea. Matthew tells us that Jesus addressed the crowd, saying that when it comes to our earthly possessions, it’s a bad idea to get too attached to them—one day all that stuff will deteriorate anyway. Instead, Jesus said to focus on using everything we’ve been given to have a lasting impact—storing up treasures in heaven.

When we see everything we have as a way to impact not only this life but the one beyond—when we look to have real impact with our possessions—something major happens to us. Over time, this perspective will shape our hearts. Generosity changes us.

As Jesus put it in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Our hearts follow the things we treasure: our time, our money, our stuff, etc. And the way we can change our hearts? Practice giving our treasure away. Make a plan to be generous.

“Heavenly Father,
Point my heart toward what matters. Help me give in a way that transforms me from the inside out. Amen.”