Giving at Ridiculous Levels

 In Guest posts

Today’s post is from my friend, Casey Lewis. I had the honor of working with him and a group of people to raise over $5K in less than a week. We were able to send five people to Jon Acuff’s Start Conference in Nashville, with all expenses paid. It was pretty incredible. Casey is the real deal. He lives and breathes it. He also shares practical advice to help us move towards radical generosity. Show Casey some love in the comments below!

 

 

Have you ever paid for someone’s electricity bill for an entire year in advance?  When you watch the news after a natural disaster, do you feel compelled to take time off of work to help out?  Do you want to leave a $1,000 tip on the table for a waitress who’s a struggling single mother working on Christmas Eve?  Have you ever thought about building a water well for an African village?

I could probably go on and on for days with levels of extreme giving like this.  The reality for most of us, though, is that we struggle in just giving our tithe to our local church.  We go to work, pay bills, and with the money left over at the end of the month, we throw a few $20 bills in the offering plate as it passes by, if that.  Generosity listed above doesn’t even register on the scale for us.

 

casey

 

Part of our DNA

Here’s what I know from scripture.  In Genesis 1:27 it says, “So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God.”  He knit us together in our mothers womb (Psalm 139:13) and we know He is the ultimate giver.  So much so that He sent His only son to Earth to die on the cross for our sins. (John 3:16).

If God is the ultimate giver and we are made in His image then it would make sense that we have woven into our DNA a spirit of generosity.  It also then makes sense that when we are not giving like we know we should, it leaves an empty feeling inside.

Broke people have a hard time helping other broke people.

If giving crazy amounts of money, time, and resources is something you long for then you must put yourself in a position to build wealth.  This isn’t a chicken before the egg, egg before the chicken scenario.  Generosity is something you can certainly do when you’re broke, but a broke person isn’t going to take 3 weeks off of work to fly to Haiti when an earthquake and hurricane attempt to wipe the country off the map.  A broke person won’t be writing any $30,000 checks to build Kindergartens in Vietnam.  That level of generosity requires money.

Get on Track.

Building wealth starts with a plan where ridiculous levels of generosity are the end goal.  It starts with slashing your budget now, selling things you can to pay off your debts now, taking care of your own household first (1 Timothy 3:5) by building an emergency account for rainy days, and investing for the future to build wealth.

Getting your finances in order today sets you up for crazy, ridiculous levels of generosity in the future.

What are some other ideas you have for ridiculous levels of generosity?  Leave your thoughts in the comments.

 

 

 

Casey Lewis is the author of the book Impact and the blog casey-lewis.com.  He works as a financial coach and speaker, helping people put their finances in a position that allows them to chase their dreams and make an impact in the world.  Find out what he’s up to on Twitter @caseynlewis  or for useful tips on how you can get better with your finances, sign up for his free newsletter.

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Showing 3 comments
  • Sheryl Buckner
    Reply

    Great article! I had never thought of my giving DNA quite like that before. I am setting myself up to be an outrageous giver like that.

  • NoMoreHamsterWheel
    Reply

    Great post! It feels great being able to give without going broke. Sure, we can give our time and help out that way, and we should, but giving at ridiculous levels is like icing on the cake. Someone who I know who spends her days doing volunteer work for animal rescue, the homeless and the veterans was doing a fundraiser and she told everyone she had an audacious goal. I told her to double that goal because she had already met it. It wasn’t until she saw my donation come in she understood what I meant. It was a great moment!

  • Positively Alene
    Reply

    Love this truth, “Broke people have a hard time helping other broke people.” I work on the inner city and while the broke people don’t have a lot to give, I’ve noticed that their hearts are more apt to give what little they do have than those of us who have plenty. Giving is such a blessing. May we all become ridiculously generous.

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