How Generous Are You?
As you’ve seen in the title of these devotions, Wally was a missionary pilot. He learned to fly and ended up spending many years flying around Bolivia to spread the good news of the gospel and transport supplies from one town to the next.
After a few years of this, the plane that the mission organisation owned started to play up, and they actually needed something bigger for the work they were doing. Wally asked the mission director if there were any funds available, but there weren’t.
A short time later the Herrons visited a Baptist Church in Michigan, and the pastor asked if Wally would give a short testimony, which he did. He spoke of the work they were doing, the amazing progress among the lepers, the great conversions they had seen, the great hope brought to the colony through the love of Jesus. He asked the people for prayer, because a new plane was needed to continue the work. He gave God all the glory for the work they’d been able to do, and he returned to his seat.
Divine Generosity: A Gift for God's Work
After the service, the Herrons stood at the door and shook the hands of the people alongside the pastor, and right at the back of the line was a man who introduced himself and said “I have a plane you might be interested in.” Wally was sceptical, but the man kept insisting that he come and look at this plane, and so off they went, and Wally ended up taking this beautiful red four-passenger Stinson plane up for a ride. “What a beautiful ship” he said to his wife when he landed. “I wonder what they want for it?”
Wally turned to the man to ask the price, and the man said “price? There’s no price. We want the plane to be used in the Lord’s work. If you want to take it to Bolivia, it’s yours!”
I’m always inspired when I hear such stories of generosity. There is so much good work to be done, and many of the churches and mission workers who do it don’t have the means to do it properly. But thanks be to God – he equips some of his children with lots of money and other blessings, so that they can share it with the workers who need it to do God’s work.
How generous are you? I’m not suggesting that you put yourself at risk by giving away things you can’t afford to give away. But I am suggesting that you ask God for opportunities to give towards to the work that God’s people do to spread the Word.
Gratitude for Generosity: Supporting God's Work Together
I have been deeply blessed by your generosity. There are those of you who donate towards the work I do here online, and it not only helps me take care of my family, but it’s enabled me to grow the work of this ministry through advertising, expanding my web presence, paying others to take care of my website and so on. Without your help, this whole thing would have just collapsed.
God calls his people to be generous, and it’s not about numbers or percentages: it’s about compassion and faith.
Where might you give to the work of God today? Ask God to open your eyes to an opportunity for you to sow into a ministry. Maybe your gift to one of God’s workers will open doors for people to hear the gospel and be changed forever.
Like the man who gave away his plane to the work of God, may your generosity be a blessing to God’s workers.
