Generous Living: Finding Contentment Through Giving

In Generous Living, Ron Blue gives great Biblically based fundamentals on managing your money and resources. The overarching theme is being generous with your resources, which includes more than just your material finances. This could also incorporate talents and abilities as well as time. By gaining the perspective that everything is God's and we are His stewards of our possessions we bring into better focus how we manage it and the importance of seeking His counsel when making decisions. This also helps to change the "me/mine" mentality and loosen one's grasp rather than holding on greedily to the assets under management. When we realize that God can easily give or take away and that we are simply His managers, we no longer worry about holding tightly to "our stuff." This perspective makes it much easier to lend someone your car or volunteer your time or even give your money. Since God is the ultimate CEO calling the shots, if He sees fit to use "our" money, time, or resources, we should give with a glad and willing heart. In addition to providing insight into maintaining a generous mindset, Mr. Blue also provides excellent practical advice on topics such as defining financial and giving goals and working towards them, creating a budget, strategic giving (meaning research organizations and individuals you give to and expect accountability to their stated mission and how they use the resources rather than giving blindly), estate planning and how to transfer wealth, whether large or small, to heirs and charitable organizations. While the book was written 11+ years ago and some of the commentary could benefit from updating based on world and market events that have occurred since that time, it contains timeless principles which will apply long into the future.

This book is for those who want to give more and maximize their effectiveness and joy in giving. Blue points out in his book that we have endless opportunities to give of our resources to further God's work here on earth and that we need to give strategically to make our giving as effective as possible. He discusses both the why and the how of giving. He states that we need to have a long term giving plan as part of our overall financial plan. This book showed me how my wife and I could give much more now and in the future with a few minor adjustments in our family budget. Blue challenged me to set a cap on lifestyle at a reasonable level and use the excess income to save, invest and give away. It helped me work through all the practical questions of how much to spend, how much to save and invest and how much to give. Ron Blue states that financial freedom is not found in building up net worth but rather is, "the willingness to be generous with what you have."

(Initial review June 29, 1998) I found Mr. Blue's advice to be very helpful in making a plan for giving that would be pleasing to God. Lots of practical advice. If you are ready to get serious about your giving and tithing, you must read this book. The piece of advice that stands out to me, is that to be a good giver, you must learn how to be a gracious receiver. That has changed the way I think about receiving, AND giving.