Children can ask the most deceptively simple questions. I recall a well-known journalist telling an audience that his career really took off after his young son came home from a school nativity play. We were going through the familiar story he explained, when he asked me why Jesus and his family were so poor given the fact that the Wise Men had given them gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (no Black Friday bargains there).

It got me thinking he continued, and I began to realise that, all too often I fail to ask the most basic questions for one good reason: they seem too simple. He went on to tell how his career as an investigative journalist had never been the same since and that he owed so much of his success to his young son’s profoundly simplistic probing.

Now I have to admit that until then I had never thought of asking that question either. And I have to come clean and admit I have no idea what Mary, Joseph or for that matter Jesus Himself did with those first Christmas gifts.

But if I was pushed and I had to come up with some sort of answer I would suggest that they may well have given them away, or at least turned them into ready cash and shared what they had with the poor. And I say that because of what I have learned about God’s generosity.

I’ve been thinking about generosity lately and not least because I am convinced that God loves cheerful givers. And I know why too. We are not mere animals even though we share lots of fascinating characteristics with many other forms of life. We are unique in the sense that we have all been created in God’s image. And this must mean that we are supposed to be ‘givers’ rather than ‘takers’ because God is incredibly generous. In fact, that’s the definitive message of Christmas. God is so generous that He was willing to go to the most unbelievable lengths to redeem us.

Unfortunately, we frequently make the mistake of assuming that generosity will inevitably involve money, and the amount of money we give away in particular. I have discovered though, that when it comes to money it’s not how much we give away but the spirit in which we give, or how we use what we keep for ourselves that counts.

And I have also learned that being generous with our time and having a generous spirit can be just as important. In fact, there are times when these can prove much costlier. Spending time with someone when we could be doing other things can make huge demands on us for example. And it can prove incredibly costly to forgive someone who has really hurt you. Jesus understood that only too well. It cost Him His life.

And so as we enter yet another Advent Season with its ‘hurry and flurry,’ why not take some time out to be thankful for all you have and take a good look at your life through the lens of generosity. After all, Jesus does say it is much more of a blessing to give than to receive.

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor broadcaster and writer who currently operates as a church and media consultant for the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is available for preaching and teaching throughout Wales and can be contacted at [email protected]