Spontaneous Generosity
Jay Bennett, Founder and Chairman NCF Twin Cities
October, 2026 | True Riches
Spontaneous generosity imitates the nature of the Divine. God is love. Love gives. God so loved that He gave us Jesus. Jesus so loved that He gave His life for us.
We are made in His image. We are designed and built to be generous…but there is something special about spontaneous generosity.
Spontaneous generosity is certainly a blessing to those we seek to favor. Just think about the reactions you get when you “come out of the blue” to be generous with another person.
But spontaneous generosity also richly blesses those givers who have developed an awareness, a consciousness, inclined to reach out. There is a wonderful mystery at hand in it. It is as if the Lord’s attention is drawn into the moment as we dare to act. It is as if He sees it coming and takes a step nearer to our hearts. We get a surge of Him which radiates through our inspired hearts and fills our souls; our minds and wills and emotions. We feel the Divine, and it radiates to those we seek to bless.
It is the conversion of a gift – sometimes with a price tag, but often times not – into something which is priceless. The True Riches of intimacy with Jesus are experienced in day-to-day life, and we are conditioned to want more.
Two days ago, a dear friend of mine called Yum Bakery in Minnetonka to buy dinner for another dear friend suffering through chemotherapy. She explained the purpose to the young woman working at Yum. That young woman was touched and put two extra desserts in the order. She also wrote a lovely personal note of encouragement on the cardboard box to be delivered.
When delivered, the dear Jesus-loving-cancer-patient was herself touched by the delivery including an extra cookie and key lime pie. But she was most deeply impacted by the note. She said she was going to keep it to remember how generous Jesus is through others, including strangers, every day if we look for it.
The next day my generous friend had the opportunity to return to Yum for her own purposes and encountered the dear employee who had been so spontaneously generous. My friend had the unction to share the whole story as that dear young lady put a hand on her own heart with a tear rolling down her cheek.
Spontaneous generosity invites the Divine into our lives. It is a God thing which manifests in our humanity.
Let us seek to train up our children and grandchildren to be spontaneously generous. It will mysteriously and powerfully bless others but will also draw our loved ones closer to God.