Living with Glad and Generous Hearts

Gratitude is at the heart of who we are as followers of Jesus. It shapes our identity, transforms our relationships, and creates generosity. In all my years of ministry, I have never met a person who was deeply grateful and at the same time was bitter, hurtful, mean, or vengeful. Gratitude forms our character and reveals who we are as followers of Jesus.

With that in mind, I want to reflect on the phrase “glad and generous hearts” found in the second chapter of Acts.

Read: Acts 2:46–47

Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Reflect

These verses give a picture of a community filled with joy, generosity, and care. It is a picture of a church so alive that others were drawn in. As I reflect on the world we live in today full of conflict, division, and pain, such pictures feel idealistic, improbable, and unrealistic. Some people see it as a dream, others as wishful thinking, and still others ask, “Did this really happen? Could anything like this happen now?”

Luke is telling us what happened through ordinary people. By God’s grace, centered upon Jesus, the people gathered to learn, pray, eat, worship, and care for one another. Generosity overflowed. Some people sold their possessions to meet emerging needs. Their daily rhythms of worship, meals in homes, joyful gratitude, and genuine relationships, created a community of life and vitality.

After Peter’s Pentecost sermon, thousands responded, both individually and corporately. But the life that brought about the glad and generous hearts was developed and fed by their life together.

Christians and Community

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ.” In his book, Life Together, he insisted that Christian relationships were essential: “The Christian needs another Christian…as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation.” We grow in Christ through one another.

So, those early followers of Jesus, after Pentecost, focused upon the practices that gave support and significance to their life together. Luke wrote, “as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” Those early followers of Jesus devoted themselves to fellowship and shared their lives around the table.

Fellowship with Others

For us today, this kind of friendship is deeper than social media or casual connection. This kind of friendship or fellowship is lived out in relationships of care, support, and accountability. These relationships are formed both inside and outside formal worship. You don’t need to be close to everyone, but you do need a core group who helps you follow Jesus and live out your faith in daily life.

Bonhoeffer reminds us: “Life cannot be rich without gratitude…We overestimate our own achievements and overlook how much we owe to others.” Faith grows through relationships where we know and are known.

Glad and Generous Hearts

Glad and generous hearts are developed in relationship with one another and produce attitudes of joy, gratitude, and generosity. It is with glad and generous hearts that we learn to love one another as God in Jesus has loved us.

Those early followers saw the needs of others as their own and understood love not just as emotion but as action. They did not view possessions as solely for personal benefit but as resources for meeting needs as they arose. No one forced this generosity; it flowed naturally from a glad and generous hearts developed out of a relationship within the community.

As Will Willimon observes, they had “confidence in the ability of the resurrection faith to overturn all material and social arrangements.” Luke is not promoting an economic model but describing how the Spirit, the presence of God, cultivated joy, generosity, and love.

Growing in Grace

As we follow Jesus, together in relationship to one another, we grow in the grace that produces glad and generous hearts. It is in our living with glad and generous hearts that makes a difference in our everyday living, in our relationships with our neighbors, how we view the world, and how we use our resources.

Gratitude is at the heart of who we are as followers of Jesus. “Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.”

Respond

Who are the people who fill your heart with gratitude? Think of three or four people through whom you’ve experienced God’s love. Write down their names. Give thanks for them and then reach out with a simple message: “I’m giving God thanks for you today. Know how much you are loved and appreciated.”

Who are the people who give meaning and purpose to your life? Think of three or four people with whom we share life daily (family, colleagues, friends). Write down their names (they might be the same names you listed above). Give thanks for them and reach out with a simple message, “I’m giving God thanks for you today. Know how grateful I am for you and for the life we share together.”

Who are the people who need to know that they are loved and cared for? Think of one or two people who would benefit from a text, email, or call from you. Write down their names. Give thanks for them and reach out to them with a simple message, “Just thinking of you as I am giving God thanks for you. Know how much you are loved and appreciated.”

Your notes are an example of living with glad and generous hearts. You are modeling our life together in your expressions of care and appreciation.

Return

Give God thanks for the people you encountered today. Where did you experience glad and generous hearts? Was it at home? At work? At the grocery store? At the club? Did you send a note of care and appreciation? Why? What not? How did you experience life together with other followers of Jesus today? With whom do you need to celebrate your experience of a glad and generous heart? What did you learn? What will you do differently tomorrow? Now give God for the ways you are growing in generosity.