In a training, someone asked the speaker about the attributes of God. He replied that there is one thing we rarely hear about God—that God is generous. It’s His defining characteristic. It differentiates Him from any other supposed deities who only give in response to sacrifices, prayers and worship from their followers. The God of Genesis gave first and for everyone.

God is majestic, holy and glorious but perhaps He is best defined by His generosity. In Matthew 5:45 Jesus tells the disciples to be sons of their Father in heaven by giving as He does, to both the righteous and the unrighteous. We who follow God are meant to be like Him. As Jesus says later in Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Paul later says, “And we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another...” 2 Corinthians 3:18. We are to behold and become, just like Jesus.

The holiday season is in full swing, with Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas to come. What is Christmas if not a celebration of the greatest act of generosity ever—when God gave Himself to us.

As Isaiah 9:6 puts it, “For to us a son is born, to us a son is given.” John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” It is the love of God that drives His giving. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the ground we stand on, all those we love—all this comes from the hand of the generous One who gave, gives and always will, because of His love for all.

We have heard wonderful stories of generosity in our Sunday gatherings recently, so can we pray that God will show us what being perfect as sons of our Father in heaven would mean for us this Christmas? God has no need of our money, but we have a need to give it so that we can display the generosity of our Father. God has no need of our skills or our talents, but we have a deep need to recognize the gifts that God has given us and honor their Giver by the way we use them. God has no need of our life, but asks us to honor it as a gift and give it away generously for others, just as Jesus did.

Let all we do this Christmas be worship to the Giver of all good things—ever thankful and overwhelmed by God’s generosity to us.

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Chris Jones is the Global Outreach Director at New Hope Church. He longs for the unreached people of the world to experience the life-changing love of God and for people at New Hope Church to find fullness of joy by obeying the Great Commission.