November 11, 2022
Generous people always “round up.”
A man went out for lunch one Sunday after church and the server was unfriendly – like, way unfriendly. But when it came time to settle up at the end, he felt something. He said, “It’s like the Holy Spirit said to me, ‘Round up! Bless her with a bigger tip than she’d normally get.” So, he did, and didn’t think anything more about it.
The next Sunday in church, he turned around and who was sitting right behind him? You guessed it! His server from last Sunday!
She said, “I knew you went to this church because you always came into the restaurant after church. I didn’t really like God, or like church, or like what I thought I knew about you. That’s why I was unfriendly to you. I knew I wasn’t good to you, but you still were good to me. So, I thought, You know, maybe somebody like me should use a church like that!
She went to church that Sunday … and that Sunday was the day her life changed … just by one small and simple act of rounding up.
That’s what generous people do. Wise old King Solomon said it this way: “All day long selfish people crave and crave, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.” (Proverbs 21:26)
We don’t hold back – we round up!
We don’t hold back – we round up!
You see it over and over again in the Bible …
• The Good Samaritan is walking along, and he sees a man beaten and left for dead. He doesn’t say, “Stinks to be you, buddy.” No, he gets him a hotel room and Scripture says, “The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’” (Luke 10:35) He rounded up!
• Zacchaeus – same thing. Zacchaeus was a crook who stole from people. But one day he experienced the life-transforming love of Jesus, and he decided not just to give back, but to round up! He said, “If I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount!” (Luke 19:8) That’s way rounding up!
• And Jesus taught this principle: “If someone demands your shirt, give him your really cool jacket, too. If someone says, go one mile, round up and go two miles!” (Matthew 5:40-41)
And, so, how about you?
• The next time you’re contemplating, Should I give a lower amount or a higher amount on a tip? – be a blessing and round up!
• If you’re going to make a meal for someone, don’t just make a meal, make an appetizer and a dessert. Round up! Come on – you’re generous! It’s who you are!
• If you’re going to give someone a gift card to go out to dinner, hey, babysit their kids too! Because generous people round up!
And so, here’s the thing: If you want to be generous when you have more, learn to be generous when you have less. You pre-decide – because generous isn’t just what we do, generous is who we are.
But I promise you, it’s never going to be accidental. Generous people – they plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity. We stand firm. We’ve already decided. We round up.
Why? Because we serve the most generous God you can ever imagine … who pre-decided to send His one and only Son that we might live the ultimate life!