Generosity expands your influence. The more generous you become, the more influential you will become.

Influence comes not from what you get in life. Influence comes from what you give away in life, and the more you give away, the more influential you’ll be—and the more opportunities you’ll have to use your influence for God’s purposes.

The Bible says in Proverbs 11:24, “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller” (MSG).

The Bible also says, “They share freely and give generously to those in need. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. They will have influence and honor” (Psalm 112:9 NLT).

When Kay and I got married nearly 50 years ago, we were tithing 10 percent. At the end of our first year of marriage, we raised our giving to 11 percent. At the end of our second year, we raised it to 12 percent. At the end of the third year, we raised it to 13 percent. Every year for 40 years, even in tough times, we have raised our giving a little bit.

Why? Because I wanted my heart to grow bigger every year. I wanted to be more like Jesus. I wanted to be godly. I wanted to be holy.

We weren’t doing this to show off. In fact, I didn’t tell anybody about it for more than 25 years. We just quietly did it every year until 20 years ago when we started giving away 91 percent of our income and living on 9 percent.

We do it because we cannot out-give God. And while my giving went up, so did my influence. God has used that influence to make Jesus’ name known in many places in the world. I’ve tried to use every ounce of influence that he’s given me to help more people hear the gospel.

God wants to use you to do great things for him. As you grown in generosity, he will grow your influence so you can use it for good.