I’m not very generous. I’d like to be, but what is it that keeps me from being generous?

Generous is from the root word "genus," which is a reference to birth, blood, or family. It's a quality that reflects a condition of the heart, mind, and soul. Classically, it was defined as nobleness of soul.

I like that: nobleness of soul. We don’t talk like that anymore, but perhaps we should. What does it means to live a noble life? It speaks of something grand, like knights and castles, codes, and creeds. It sounds like something pure.

What gets in the way of living a noble life? So often it seems that I have this need to justify myself. If I sense wrong-doing to myself, a slight, a misdeed, I withhold my good as justification. I want to be made right. I demand justice. Do you know what I’m saying here?

How misguided! How desperate I am to understand real justification! Paul understood this idea. In Romans 5:18, he wrote: "Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people." 

Only the sacrifice of Christ provides the opportunity for justification. I cannot justify myself. So in my day-to-day attempts to justify myself I actually become an inhibitor to the grace of God multiplying in and around me. Ouch.

Lord, teach me this thing called the Gospel, the good news of Christ, that tells us in Romans 5.15, “ … how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!” 

Bill High is the president of our National Christian Foundation Heartland (Kansas City) office.

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