BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING
Micah Smith
Today's Scripture: "You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God." 2 Corinthians 9:11, ESV
Theme: God-given resources are provided so that we can partner with Him in generously blessing others.
BALLIN’ ON A BUDGET (SORT OF)
When I graduated from college and moved from Ohio to Southern California for my first real job, I felt like I'd finally made it. New city, new wardrobe, new salary — and because I apparently needed everyone to know I'd arrived, an e-class Mercedes. I was twenty-something, freshly employed, and absolutely convinced I was crushing adulthood.
Reality arrived quickly after that. Rent. Car payments. Student loans. A job that was somehow harder than anyone mentioned during the interview. I went from feeling like I was balling to discovering there was significantly more month than there was money. Once things settled into a rhythm, I was getting by — but just barely. (No one told me I would have to pay taxes!?! Who do I talk to about this!!) And somewhere in that tight budget, I quietly decided that tithing could wait. God would understand. I'd make it up to Him by beginning to tithe when things loosened up. That reasoning lasted about two years.
THE DARE
Then came a Sunday where the sermon hit a little too close. You know the kind — where you're suddenly very interested in your shoelaces or fidgeting with literally anything? I wasn't angry – but it was a little hot in there (just me?) and I felt... just really convicted. I knew what I was doing was outside of what God intended, and I really wasn't excited to be confronted with that.
The message centered on Malachi 3:10 — one of the only places in Scripture where God essentially dares His people: "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse... and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you" (ESV). I'm not one to back down from a challenge (remember, I was young... and dumb enough to buy a Mercedes as my first adult car). So, I started giving. Reluctantly at first — some cash here, a digital payment there, missing a few Sundays along the way. I won't pretend I went from zero to generosity overnight. Honestly, this was a ten-year journey of really becoming disciplined and learning to trust God in this area. Becoming faithful was gradual. So were the blessings.
But here's what I can tell you: as I grew in generosity, God grew my capacity to be generous. Giving stopped feeling like an obligation which I was behind on and started feeling like a reflex — a natural response to recognizing the Source, where everything came from in the first place. Paul captures it perfectly in 2 Corinthians 9:11 — we're not just blessed to be blessed. We're blessed so that we can be generous. The blessing has a direction, and it’s not inward. It's meant to flow through us, not just to us.
Make it Personal: Is there an area of generosity where you've been telling God, "I'll get to it later?" What would it look like to take a small, faithful step this week — not because you have plenty, but because you trust the One who does?
Pray: Father, thank You for every resource You've placed in my hands. Forgive me for the times I've treated Your provision as mine to hoard or manage on my own timeline. Give me the courage to be faithful with little, trusting that You're the Source of everything I have. Let generosity become a reflex in my life — not a reluctant obligation — so that my giving points others back to You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Read: Malachi 3:8-12, Luke 16:10-12
Weekly Memory Verse: “I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word.” Isaiah 66:2b, NLT