Generosity

Leviticus 19:6 It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day; anything left over until the third day must be burned up.

Wasted food bothers me. I hate it when something in my refrigerator goes bad and I have to throw it away. I think to myself, I should have been more aware of the food and eaten it before it went bad. But I live in a land of food abundance. If I were truly hungry, I wouldn’t let food spoil.

I just recently attended a funeral of a friend, and we had so much food left over. The widower was going to bring the rest of the food to the fire station to feed the firemen. He was spreading the abundance, even in a time of grief, to those who might benefit from the generosity of others. What a gift!

When was the last time you bought someone else a meal at a restaurant without them knowing it was you? Try it sometime. Just tell the waitstaff that you will be paying for the other table’s food and they can arrange it.

There is one of the sacrifices that was part of the system of offerings that showed the kind of character the LORD had, and the kind of character He expected of us. That offering, called the fellowship offering, was about sharing the abundance that you had with others. It was different from the other offerings.

That difference, that the giver received almost all the meat from the offering back from the priest, set is aside from the others. The one who offered the animal was then commanded to share the food with family and friends. It was about giving thanks for the blessing of the LORD in their lives.

Think about how much meat there is in a calf. Just a year old calf can be well over a hundred pounds. That is a lot of meat for one family to eat before the flies take over. Remember, this offering was instituted long before refrigeration existed. Even salting and drying that much meat would have been a monumental task, much more than a single family could accomplish by themselves.

But you gather all your family, friends and neighbors and share a big feast, that could easily use up that much meat. Think how much food can be eaten at a church potluck. Generosity with our food, the result of the provision of the LORD in our lives, is one of the hallmarks of followers of Jesus.

The early church gathered and shared meals. Each gave what they had so that all could eat. Some had much to share, and some only a little. But the example of Jesus who gave all he had for us, that was the example they followed.

How are we doing with our generosity?