Word of Wisdom: Generous
“The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident.”
Francesco Guicciardini
There’s a scene in the Hollywood classic Ben-Hur that has always grabbed my attention. The wrongfully convicted Jewish prince, Judah Ben-Hur, had been sentenced to forced labor as an oarsmen on a Roman warship. However, during a naval battle he courageously saves the life of the Roman commander, who shortly thereafter is back in Rome being honored and petitioning Caesar for the freedom of his slave-turned-savior.
“I am convinced” that he is innocent, the commander argues, when the emperor stops him.
“Consul…allow us to be generous”.
Allow us to be generous. Something about that phrasing was always intriguing, because it prompts questions. Why does generosity need to be allowed? Isn’t it just given by the one doing the giving? Is there a role—a choice—for the recipient?
The answer may lie in the word itself.
We recognize generous as denoting “kindness” or “magnanimity”; it may also mean “larger or more plentiful than is necessary”. But those meanings are focused on the actor; they are related to the giver. The nature of the “generosity” is not impacted by the receiving in these definitions.
When we dig deeper, however, new insights emerge. The English word generous comes to us from the Latin generosus, meaning “of noble birth”. That, in turn, is derived from the ancient root *gene-, meaning “to give birth, to beget”. It is where we get other words like gene, genealogy, genetics, generative, genuine…genesis. “In the beginning”…there was an act of generosity.
Generosity, it seems, is as fundamental as a gene; as life-giving as a generative act.
Yet as primary as the Spirit that hovered and the Word that spoke were, that generosity needed a recipient; the waters, the heavens, the earth needed to receive that generous, creative act.
Like a seed requiring good soil to produce good fruit, a generous act requires a fertile heart to take root and flourish. Generosity, like any seed—be it natural or supernatural—must be received, watered, tended and cared for.
As sons, this is how we’re invited to respond to generosity: by receiving.
Like the first son, we must receive the divine breath. Like all sons since, we must choose to receive confidence and rest. Like the promised Son, we must receive favor and affirmation.
When we receive, we allow the “seed” of the generous act to flourish—to produce life. Indeed, it is no accident that to receive and to conceive are so closely related (you might say they share the same etymological genes).
Only then, after we’ve received as a beloved son, can we generously give to others like a faithful, fruitful father. Only then can the overflow from our cup be life-giving to those around us, to those who share the tables of our lives and look to us for invitation and investment. Only then can we rejoice like the One who gives generously not to those who strive and earn—but to his sons and daughters.
That is the image that we bear, the family likeness that we inherit—an inheritance in a generous, life-giving abundance that is always ready to take root.
If only we will allow it.
“The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.”
Proverbs 11:25