Learning how to be generous can be challenging, and even more so when things in life start going sideways.
The most difficult times of stewardship can occur during a crisis. When there’s a blip in the economy or an unexpected financial need confronting us, our anxiousness about money greatly increases.
There will always be confident people in times of financial crisis. Typically, it’s not because they have the greatest faith, but that they were prepared for the moment—faithfully stashing away savings so they might be positioned to survive the storm. Conversely, there will be those who feel absolutely crushed when facing monetary challenges. Perhaps they were living on the fringe even before the crisis hit; facing insurmountable obligations, they may feel as if they’re suffocating.
There are a multitude of resources available to help Christians manage through times of financial trouble. Here, however, let’s consider how we can continue to be generous even as the going gets tough.
1. Navigate.
In times of crisis, we tend to be more reactive than proactive. Even the most prepared among us struggle to be generous in periods of calamity.
It’s easy to understand why. When we’re forced to allocate dollars toward emergencies, we tend to adopt a scarcity mindset. We spend so much energy looking internally that we neglect to see the needs around us.
This is why a navigation mindset is so important when facing crises. We must meet troubles head on. We cannot afford to be passive when tough times abound. Identify the crisis at hand and intentionally commit to remaining generous no matter what happens.
2. Reallocate.
As we formulate our response to a crisis, we have to prioritize our obligations. Take a look at your budget as well as your available savings. Then rank your financial commitments from those most important to least.
This approach is fairly standard when facing a financial emergency. For the Christian, however, we elevate generosity to the top of the ranking. The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, tells us the secret of contentment in every season, “whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.” What’s that secret? “I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:12–13 NLT). If Jesus is the source of our strength, generosity in crisis is proof that we’re living out our beliefs.
In order to give, you may have to move resources away from lesser priorities. And despite this reallocation, you still might need to scale back your generosity for a season. Regardless of how your revised budget looks, prioritize generosity.
3. Communicate.
We typically don’t go through a financial crisis alone. Whether it’s a spouse, family, or friend, our efforts to navigate and reallocate will have an impact on others.
While keeping things private might be our tendency, we should invite others into our struggle. Many of us deliberately avoid financial conversations, let alone those that involve our personal situations, so imagining letting others in might make you cringe. But Christianity was never meant to be practiced in isolation. In fact, in telling others, we might even encounter someone who can offer a solution or advice to aid us with our problem. We’ll never know unless we let others know.
It’s not that we’re seeking out humiliation. Rather, we embrace accountability. When we communicate about our crisis, it becomes less internalized, and we keep the external factors at the forefront.
4. Evaluate.
When the time of crisis is over, we must judge for ourselves how we fared.
Reflect on the crisis you just experienced. Were you still able to meet your giving goals? Were you generous despite the challenge of the times? In the end, what lessons did you learn?
When it comes to stewardship, there are endless opportunities for growth. Catastrophe might even provide the greatest opportunity for our improvement.
A few years ago, a politician coined the advice “never waste a crisis.” The same counsel can apply to our giving. If we want to strengthen the habit of generosity, a crisis presents an unexpected opportunity.
