The final verse of Only a Holy God says, “Who else could rescue me from my failing? Who else would offer His only Son? Who else invites me to call Him ‘Father’? Only a holy God…only my holy God!”

Rounding out the month on generosity and a year about various virtues, I want to provide a short profile of a dear friend.

Her name is Nyla McKinzie, and she moved from her native Hawaii to settle in rural Illinois, to work faithfully beside her dear farmer-husband Jim and raise three beautiful children. Being Hawaiian in an otherwise generally all-white and rather remote area was not the only thing that made Nyla initally different from her neighbors, however. The thing that made her most wonderfully unique was her generous heart.

When I was growing up, I remember experiencing time with Nyla as a respectable, honest, kind, and warm lady. But when I got older and returned to her home and community for occasional visits, I understood her and appreciated her in a different, deeper way.

Nyla — who I have now called Tutu (Hawaiian for grandmother) for some time — finds tremendous delight in giving to others as she feels God lead her to do so. Her time, energy, resources, and ideas have blessed so many, both in when she gives (at such opportune times) and how she gives (with such joy).

The truest generosity is born out of a listening heart.

Tutu loves to study and meditate on the names of God. His names in the original scripture languages and their meanings as we grasp them in our own tongue. And those meditations have refined a beautiful soul in her over years and years of dwelling.

The most beautiful generosity is born out of a thirsty heart.

Tutu has the forgiveness of God through Jesus so deeply stamped on her core being that she must tell others (in her natural, endearing way) about how His grace and His invitation changed her forever. And she knows that there are some very “good-hearted people” in the world…but without the goodness of God’s heart transforming each person’s heart with a familial relationship, that person will never be good.

The sweetest generosity is born out of an adopted heart.

Thank you, Tutu, for encouraging me to love like this. I know I can follow your example because you follow the example of Jesus.

Verse three of Only a Holy God says, “What other glory consumes like fire, what other power can raise the dead, what other name remains undefeated? Only a holy God.”

Charles Wesley is best known from history as being a key founder in what we now call the methodist movement or Methodist Church. But for those who have loved singing hymns, he is better known and loved as a writer of such classic church songs.

I was blown away, however, when I learned that he wrote about 6,500 during his long and faithful life. 6,500! A bit of basic math tells me that of he wrote one hymn a day, every consecutive day, that would have equalled nearly 18 solid years of writing. (I have no evidence that all of his hymns were written in such a fashion; I just say that for sake of perspective.)

The line highlighted in this post’s word art comes from my favorite of his hymns (of the handful I know well!). In this line, I see a prayer and a plea as well as a promise.

As an artist and a writer, I know that my creativity and my worship through designing are both greatly enhanced when my heart’s slate has been wiped clean of sin and fear for a time. For sin chokes the Spirit’s influence on my ideas, and fear holds me back from wanting to share my inspiration with the world for God’s glory. After all, if His name and power are so great, why should sin still bind me, and why should fear threaten my heart?

When I think of Charles Wesley, then, I think of another key aspect of true generosity. In order for us to live with the fullest measure of generosity each of us can display, we must crave the promise of freedom from sin and fear — and claim the promise daily as we walk on in faith. The result, when we embrace such an outlook, can be mind-boggling, for we never know what an impact our redeemed living might have on our present community or what a legacy our unfettered attitudes might have on future generations.

This month’s four posts will briefly profile subjects as inspired by the words of a song. Not a traditional holiday song, but a modern hymn written by the team at CityAlight and Dustin Smith. Each week, I will focus on a verse, a person, and an elemental truth that defines the virtue of generosity.

Verse 1: “Who else commands all the hosts of heaven? Who else could make every king bow down? Who else can whisper and darkness trembles? Only a holy God.”

This week will be a bit different in that my profiled person is not a human but an angel. Gabriel is his name, and being an ageless yet created being, he has witnessed the whole span of known time, from before existence of our space, to creation of light and all that was perfect, to the Fall and the fall, to the lines of our history and his obediently announcing the coming baby king who would set all things right again. He saw that baby grow to live and die and crush the eternal hold of death. And he exists today, obedient still and anticipating with all creation a day when complete newness will obliterate brokenness.

He has dwelt in the presence of God most holy and stood watch over the few-pound form of God most fragile. He has witnessed the beauty of Eden and wept in the shadows of Calvary. And he, through it all, has modeled generosity.

For to be generous is to hold nothing back. And that includes, fundamentally, our very being. It is to be who we were made to be and live out of that core being for the glory of God. In obedience and in truth, even when that means facing what is not easy or pleasant. Because to ignore this inherent need to walk with an open heart and life before our Creator is to starve the life essence of any created being.

Is this a new thought? Certainly not. Yet, neither is it an easy one to live out in a death-courting world, nor a natural one to embrace when hiding and retreating seem so much more comfortable for we who cannot throw off the weight of our own shame.

But there, in the song lyrics, we see the reminder that God’s voice and presence make darkness tremble. So, may we, like the faithful herald He sent, take a chance, be bathed in the light of holiness, and dare to generously show ourselves to the world, that the world might know Him.