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Weekly Bible Verse – Generosity will Bring Blessing
If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. Deuteronomy 15:7,8,10 (NIV)
If you’re reading this, then you’re most likely someone who cares at least a little bit about receiving God’s blessing (and maybe you care a whole lot). This week’s verse is therefore of interest to you. In the last sentence we see that God will bless you in “all your work and in everything you put your hand to.” To be blessed in everything you do is a pretty sweet blessing (I want some of that!).
Of course, the next question is, “How do I go about receiving this awesome blessing from God?” The first sentences tell us that we should freely lend a less fortunate person whatever he needs and should not be miserly toward him. That is how you receive this blessing from God. That seems counterintuitive, wouldn’t you agree? It is basically teaching that you have to give away to get more. That certainly flies in the face of the worldly wisdom of our society.
You’ve probably heard a Christian pastor or teacher or blogger at some point say that it is critically important for you to give to God as part of your financial plan. In fact, you’ve probably heard that it should be the first thing you do with your money each month (I’ve said both of those things on this site). Even if you are having trouble making everything else fit into your budget, skipping this crucial piece of your plan will have deleterious effects on your finances. Again, that’s another counterintuitive teaching, isn’t it?
I think this week’s verse explains why that lesson actually makes sense (ok, still not from a worldly perspective, but I only really care about the Godly perspective anyway). We just learned that if we give generously and without a grudging heart that God will bless everything that we do! Now I’m not suggesting that we give money and God is forced to make us rich – I don’t think that is the message of this verse at all. Remember the “generous” and “without a grudging heart” thing? I’m convinced that giving money solely for the purpose of getting more back from God does not meet those criteria.
What I am saying is that we can give our gifts to God’s kingdom and be generous to those in need knowing that God will return that to us in the form of blessing. Whether that’s a financial blessing or a family blessing or some other kind (or all of the above), I can’t say with certainty. But I do believe that God tends to give more resources to those who have proven that they will direct a good portion of those resources back to God’s kingdom and to bless those in need. So that’s something for you to think about this week.
God bless and have a great week…
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6 Responses to “Weekly Bible Verse – Generosity will Bring Blessing”
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i am a regular financial tither and i also save and make it a point to live a financially responsible life.
i also tithe my talents and time in various community service efforts.
i like this verse, but it brings up some questions: i get that we should help the poor, etc, but what does this verse mean in regards to our Christianly duty towards those who are poor due to their own personal history of being financially irresponsible?
@bridget b. That is an excellent question…one I’ll have to think about and look into before attempting an intelligent reply.
The golden rule, as it has been pointed out by others, is somewhat selfish.
The platinum rule is do more unto others…
“packed down, running over”
I’ve honestly never heard of the “platinum rule” before. Regarding the golden rule, however, I don’t think I would say that the golden rule (true to its original telling) is selfish. I’ll have to think about that; I do think the purpose of the golden rule is to get people thinking about (and doing for) others instead of themselves – that doesn’t sound selfish to me.
The truth is that the Bible makes no sense what so ever to people who do not have an active faith in Christ, for the simple reason that it often encourages people to do the exact opposite of what is popular. But this is where faith comes in because when we are obedient and give out, God gives back much more in many different ways. It’s not that we give to get back, but simply that we can’t out give God!
Those who show mercy to others, God will show mercy to them.