God filled this world with uncountable multitudes of molecules and gave them to us in a multitude of ways. God assembles the molecules into flaming spheres of heat and light, summer berries, cool streams, and all manner of other God-sent blessings.
Sinful man, as he runs from God, insists that he deserves all the things. When he’s deprived of any of his wishes he throws a fit––which he cleverly calls a protest. The nanny-state steps in to ape generosity, but this is just disguised theft. In our reformational efforts, we aim to build a culture which obeys & imitates God. One of the places we must begin is in imitation of our Heavenly Father’s generosity.
This means that fathers, in particular, are tasked with being models of God’s generosity; not only the generosity itself, but also the order of His generosity. Jehovah blessed Abraham in order to bless the nations (Gen. 18:18). Otherwise generous men often get the sequence backwards. He writes large checks to charities, gives Benjamins to panhandlers, helps friends out of financial jams; but he’s the stingiest of Scrooges towards his family. He’ll lecture his family when they make requests of him to meet some pressing need or reasonable desire, while convincing himself he’s just being a good steward of the resources God gave him.
Of course, this isn’t a call to live outside your means, or to indulge sinful whims. Nevertheless, fathers, you’re called to make the economy of your home famous for joyful generosity. Your wife & kids should find you to be a fountain of wise bounty. Fathers, send a steady stream of joyful generosity cascading down upon the heads of your wife, your children, and your children’s children. In so doing, you exemplify God’s free grace to your children, leaving them no appetite for Uncle Sam’s gravy train
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