Grace enlarges the heart! As Pastor Paul spoke those words I couldn’t help myself! I envisioned the Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas … “And what happened then? Well, in Whoville they say that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day.”
I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart! (Psalm 119:32) Barnes Notes on the Bible says, “The phrase “to enlarge the heart” means to make it free; to deliver it from all hindrances to what is right; to fill it with noble and holy purposes; to stimulate and animate it. The heart is contracted or made narrow by selfishness, pride, vanity, ambition, covetousness; it is made large by charity, love, hope, benevolence.”
As the heart becomes less entangled with the “stuff” of this world and is more and more turned towards God … our generosity increases!
But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. … For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:7,9)Giving always starts with grace!