You will never meet a more generous giver than God! There have been some incredibly generous people in this world. Names of the likes of Andrew Carnegie, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet are on the list of some of the largest donors of all time, but these men can’t hold a candle to the stupendous generosity of our God! After teaching his disciples how to pray, Jesus emphasized the greatness of God’s liberality towards those who seek him. Jesus told his disciples, “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:9–10). In our selfish human way of doing things, we sometimes make generous sounding offers while secretly hoping that the other person doesn’t take us up on it. It’s much easier to quip, “If you need anything, just let me know” than it is to give time and money to genuinely alleviate the needs of others. But when Jesus says to ask, seek, and knock, these are not begrudging invitations or hollow words designed to make God sound generous—these are commandments: Ask! Seek! Knock! God is honored when we recognize our needs and when we go to him to seek the things we need. We dishonor him when we refuse to acknowledge our inadequacies or when we turn to other avenues to try to have our deepest needs satisfied. God commands us to bring our needs and requests to him. He commands us to ask, seek, and knock.

As Jesus continued teaching, he explained that the reason why we should make our petitions to God is that God is a more generous giver than the most generous giver you can think of. If you want to see an example of generosity, look at a good father. A good father delights in giving gifts to his children. We could also extend this to grandparents. What grandparent doesn’t love giving gifts to their grandchildren and seeing the smiles on their faces and the joy in their eyes? If human fathers and grandparents, all of whom have their own sin, can give good gifts, then how much more will God be a great and generous giver? And this is exactly the comparison Jesus made when he asked, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13). The greatest proof of God’s generosity is his gift of himself to us, undeserving sinners that we are. For “he saved us (…) by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior…” (Titus 3:5-6). The gift of God’s own Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord is the greatest gift you could ever be given. Have you received this gift from God?