It’s easy to assume generosity will grow over time. We tell ourselves we’ll give more after we earn more, save more, pay off debt, or reach a certain level of financial security. But what if waiting causes us to miss something God wants to do today?
That’s the question Cody Hobelmann invites us to consider. Cody is a Certified Financial Planner, a Certified Kingdom Advisor® (CKA®), and co-founder of the Finish Line Pledge with his brother, Keelan. He also contributed to FaithFi’s new field guide, How Much Money Is Enough?—a resource designed to help believers think biblically about setting financial finish lines.
For Cody, this isn’t merely a financial planning concept. It’s personal. Early in his stewardship journey, he believed the best way to serve the Kingdom was to accumulate substantial wealth and give generously later. But over time, God began to reshape that perspective.
“I started to wonder,” Cody shared, “what am I missing by not giving more today?”
That question gets to the heart of biblical generosity. Giving is not only about transferring money to a worthy cause. It is also about joy, spiritual formation, trust, and eternal impact.
The Joy of Giving Now
Acts 20:35 says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
For some believers, generosity begins with the heart. They discover that giving produces a joy that spending and saving cannot replicate. When we give, we step into something larger than ourselves. We participate in the needs, stories, and mission of others.
That joy can become contagious.
As Cody explained, generosity often draws us into relationships with people and organizations doing meaningful work. We begin to see the impact of our gifts. We share in the purpose of the ministry. We become part of a story God is writing through His people.
And the more we experience that joy, the harder it becomes to put generosity off until later.
Giving now also allows us to encourage others. Stories of generosity can awaken generosity in someone else. Cody noted that hearing the stories of radically generous givers helped challenge his own assumptions. In the same way, our generosity can become an invitation for others to ask, “What are they experiencing that I’m missing?”
Generosity doesn’t just meet needs. It multiplies.
Generosity as Spiritual Formation
Other givers are motivated by what Cody describes as the “soul” dimension of giving. For them, generosity is part of spiritual formation.
Giving requires trust. It asks us to surrender something we may feel we have earned, controlled, or secured for ourselves. That first step can be the hardest, because it often exposes what we really believe about God’s provision.
But like a muscle, generosity grows stronger with practice.
At first, giving may feel difficult or like a sacrifice. But as we give consistently, we learn to listen for the Lord’s leading and respond with obedience. Over time, generosity becomes less about fearfully letting go and more about joyfully participating in God’s work.
This is one reason giving now matters. Delayed generosity may preserve our resources, but it can also delay the work God wants to do in our hearts.
Through generosity, God loosens our grip on money. He shifts our identity away from what we have, what we earn, or what we can control, and roots it more deeply in Him. Accumulation may give the illusion of safety, but generosity teaches us dependence.
Giving becomes a way of saying, “Lord, these resources belong to You. What would You have me do with them?”
That kind of prayerful surrender draws us closer to God in a way accumulation
