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Air View of Adam Watts and I surfing in El Salvador

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Today I want to talk to you about wisdom as generosity. It says in Proverbs 3 verse 9 that we're supposed to honor the Lord with our wealth. So what are we talking about when we use the word wealth? So the first thing that we want to point out is that the Bible does teach generosity, that everything that God gives us is supposed to flow through us.

So what we're talking about with wealth is every asset that we have. Now we've really been given what I think of six different assets in our life. Those are things that are given to us and then God is watching to see how we use them.

So the first thing that God gives us is our most important asset and that's our time because it is of course the most finite asset that we have. Only God knows the quantity of it that we're given. The other assets we can sort of guesstimate, we can work on, but really the time that we have on earth is our most precious asset. It's unsecured and it's non-renewable. So the first thing that we want to think about is, am I being generous with my time as it relates to God and to people? Because the Bible teaches us very clearly that we're to love God and we're to love people. In fact, life is really what I refer to as sort of a generosity game with God and the game goes like this. God is trying to see if you will play this game with him and the game goes like this. Can you out give God? And I've been playing this generosity game with God for over 30 years and I've never given more to God than he's given back to me. So I want you to think of life in terms of this generosity game that you play with God. When you learn to play it, it gets really fun. So you want to be thinking first about your time. Are you honoring God with your time? Do you actually view your life as and the time that you've been given as a gift from God to be managed by you really changes your fundamental relationship with all the time that you have on earth.

Okay, so the second most important asset that you have is the relationship that God has given you is your marriage. Now, are you giving the best part of your marriage to God? Now, some of these you're not going to find answers to in this video. They're rhetorical questions that I'm asking for you to think about. Now, I want you to think about how do I best honor God with my marriage? Remember now, the best results in life end up with asking the best questions. So they're meant to be rhetorical, they're meant to be reflective, they're meant for you to walk away and think about. So are you honoring God with your time, you being generous? Are you being generous with the best part of your marriage?

Third -And then are you being generous with the best part of your friendships? So then God gives us friendships. Are you honoring God with those friendships? Your network is your net worth. Do you honor God with your network or do you exploit people for personal gain? These are meant to be hard questions with reflective answers.

The fourth thing is, are you honoring God with the education that he's giving you? Now, this might be formal education, it may be informal education, but we all have a pool of knowledge that we have developed and a set of skills that we've developed. And of course, again, generosity, the best part of our life, whether it's our time, marriage, friendships, and education, we're supposed to give back to God because the Bible says that we're supposed to honor the Lord with our wealth. So wealth is our assets, time, marriage, friendships, your education. Are you giving back to God the best part of the skill set and the knowledge that you have acquired in your time here on earth so far?

The next thing would be, are you honoring God with the wealth, the best part of your life experience? So you want to view your ministry through the lens of, am I taking the experiences that I've had in this world and am I giving them back to God and am I allowing God to use them?

Okay. Now the last one, and I put this purposefully as number six because when we talk about honoring God with our wealth, with being generous with the assets that we've been given, we immediately go to monetary and physical. Really, monetary and physical assets are the lowest on sort of the wealth totem pole. They're the farthest down on the list and I put them last, but God does want us to learn to play this generosity game with the best part of your money. That's a pretty good formula for being a good steward of the actual money and physical assets that you have been given. But really, that's just a starting point. I want to ask you a question. Are you really honoring God with your money? I've always practiced tithing (giving 10% of my money to the local church) for 30 years. I have a great life, no complaints.

What you do need to be responsible for is what is directly in front of you in the life that you have, and I challenge you to really be a generous person. The wisest person figures out how can I give away every part of my life. As you play this game with God, God, I'm going to give you my time, I'm going to give you my marriage, I'm going to give you my friendships, I'm going to give you my education, I'm going to give you my experience, I'm going to give you my money.

Here's the promise I'll make to you, that if you give all those six things to God, he will give more to you in return, and it will blow your mind. In the generosity game with God, God always wins. So go all in my friend. You can trust him. Thanks so much for being with me today. Until next time, I hope you have a beautiful day.

50 DAYS OF WISDOM - DAY 8 "Wisdom as Generosity" Proverbs 3:9-20