Obey Until You Enjoy It

There are a lot of things in the Christian life we know we should do before we necessarily want to.

We know we should pray. Read the Bible. Forgive. Serve. Be generous.

Sometimes our feelings just haven’t caught up with what we know.

That’s especially true with giving. I’ve heard some version of this many times: “I want to give. I just don’t want to give because I’m supposed to. I want it to come from the right place.”

I understand that. The Bible says God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7). He isn’t interested in a church full of resentful people reluctantly handing over their money.

But here’s what I told our church on Sunday.

If that’s you… If you’re struggling to give with the right heart:

Obey until you enjoy it.

That might sound strange, but it’s actually how a lot of discipleship works.

I love running—I’ve logged thousands of miles over the years. But plenty of mornings I wake up and don’t want to. If I only ran when I felt like it, I wouldn’t run much at all. So I put on my shoes and go anyway. And every time I go, I’m glad I did.

Obedience trains our affections. And generosity works the same way.

You don’t need to feel extraordinarily generous before you start giving. You can simply decide that because Jesus is Lord of your life, you’re going to trust Him with your money and imitate his generosity.

What does that mean practically? It means start somewhere:

• Never given before? Give something.
• Give occasionally, whenever you happen to think about it? Start giving consistently.
• Give consistently? Give proportionally. Pick a percentage and build it into your budget instead of giving whatever’s left over.
• Been giving 10% for years? Wonderful! But don’t assume you’re done. Ask God to help you grow further in your generosity.

Generosity is a muscle. It grows when you use it. Nobody starts by running five miles—they start by running to the end of the street. Five dollars becomes fifty. Occasional becomes consistent. Two percent becomes five, becomes ten, becomes more.

And somewhere along the way, something more important happens: giving stops being something you do and starts becoming part of who you are. That’s how you become generous. You see a need and you meet it. You hear about an opportunity and you want in. You see the gospel reaching people and can’t wait to support it. And soon you’ll discover that loosening your grip on your money has loosened your money’s grip on you.

That’s the goal! Not checking a box. Not hitting a magic percentage. Not paying a religious bill. The goal is becoming more like Jesus.

And by the way, as I also told our church on Sunday, giving doesn’t make you more righteous. It doesn’t make you more holy. God doesn’t bless you just because you throw a lot of dollars in the plate.

Do you know what Jesus loves? Do you know what Jesus blesses.

Faithfulness and generosity. Because those things reflect his nature and character.

So if you want to be more like Jesus, don’t wait until generosity feels effortless. Take the next step. Obey until you enjoy it.

Because ultimately, the goal isn’t to give Jesus 10% of your money. The goal is for Jesus to own 100% of your life.