The Bible has a lot to say about generosity. While it doesn’t only talk about money, that’s what I’m writing about today.
Secularly speaking, I’ve had a very healthy relationship with money. I live within my means and save diligently.
Biblically speaking, I’ve struggled. I tithe regularly and often give generously beyond that. But money has a way of pulling me toward security and status. Financial security, early retirement and proving to myself and others that I made it are all real ways that money takes my eyes off what really matters. Biblical generosity has nothing to do with the money and everything to do with honoring God. It’s a subtle but massively important distinction.
In my core, I know that I want unadulterated devotion in my faith. While I can be ruthless to myself, my faith lets me be equally gracious. This means I get to be fully honest and really explore my motives. Because, on the surface they are fine. Financial security can be masked as providing for my family.
Giving in to generosity means I need to systematize it. It needs to be on autopilot to avoid the risk of me mucking around with it. I’m still learning how to do this but here’s what I’ve come up with so far.
Donor Advised Funds
I initially looked into DAFs because of their tax efficiency. I do love that about them. But what I love more is that they let you take large steps of faith. I donated 5 years worth of charitable giving at the start of 2026 to our DAF. It was quite frightening because once I clicked that button, there was no way to claw the money back.
I contemplated doing it for weeks. But once I did it, I felt complete relief. All the fear I had vanished. I was surprised.
I was more surprised in the weeks after as my attitude towards the funds in our DAF shifted from we will spend this over 5 years to I think we can probably spend it all this year. Taking that first step and clicking the button flooded my heart with generosity. It’s a couple months later, and that hasn’t changed.
Charitable Business Ventures
I have a penchant for building things, trying to get others to use them, and trying to turn that into a business.
If it’s inevitable that I do that, why not try and weave generosity into it?
I’m experimenting with a business model where the operating costs are near zero and all of the profits go to charity. You can read more about how I think that can work on Lattice’s mission page.
This idea particularly interests me because it lets me pursue something that feels natural to me while orienting it towards generosity from the start.
Sometimes I think that in the grand scheme of things that all of this is silly. And in some ways, from the outside, it is. But when we lift our eyes to God, He begins work on the inside.