Proverbs 11:25-26

“A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water. The people curse those who hold back grain, but a blessing is on the head of those who sell it.”

A generous person will be enriched . . .

We are living in a times of great need. Government leaders from all over the world are scrambling, doing what they think they should to stop imminent economic collapse. Unemployment is soaring. Housing prices are plummeting.

A generous person will be enriched . . .

The tendency in such times is to not only tighten one’s belt, but to think twice before sharing. I mean, how will we have enough for tomorrow if we give it away today?

A generous person will be enriched . . .

Certainly, many of the people in financial trouble right now are those who have been less than expedient with their money, are those who invested unwisely, or are those who don’t understand the true meaning of working hard. Why should they be given more to waste when they couldn’t take care of what they had in the first place?

A generous person will be enriched . . .

One of the amazing dynamics of Christianity—one of the things that make God Who He is (as different from us)—is that the rules of life often work (seemingly) backward. If we give away, how can we gain? And yet, scripture never lies. If we want to gain, we must be willing to give. The Lord Jesus explained it: “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38 NKJV).

There is a real tendency, in times like this, to draw inward, to reduce what we give to others. Even churches, as organizations, are choosing first to stop their giving to missions and to charities, choosing instead to pay salaries and bills. And while our obligations to home and family are important, we will never be able to meet them if we doubt what God Himself has said.

A generous person will be enriched . . .

In this economy, the only thing that may distinguish true Christians from everyone else might just be how generous we are. What a golden opportunity to demonstrate to the world how much God loves them . . . by sharing with them from our lack (and trusting God to make up whatever it is we don’t have).

How willing are we to open our hearts, our homes . . . and our wallets to those in need around us?

© 2009 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).