Giving to Get or Getting to Give?

    A couple of days ago, two guys walked into the Open Pantry on the corner of Pflaum and Stoughton Road in Madison, Wisconsin (a convenience store I’ve been in a few times). One man diverted the cashier’s attention by asking for directions, while the other slipped behind the counter and into a small office where he grabbed a pile of bills the woman had been counting. As the men were about to leave, she glanced into her office and saw the money was missing and began to demand that they give it back. Here’s a first, they did...and in fact gave back more than what they took. Perhaps afraid that he might be recognized, the perpetrator reached into his pocket and grabbed a wad of bills and threw it on the counter and the two of them fled. After calling the police, the cashier recounted the money and found the would-be thief had actually returned more money than what he had taken. The cashier insisted she had just counted the money before the two guys came in, and there was more after they left than before.
    I’ve learned that God does things the other way around. Proverbs 11:24 says, “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.” I have found time and again that the more I give, the more I receive. And I know far too many people who give little, if at all, and are always complaining about their money problems. That verse works: withholding for self produces poverty, generosity brings blessing. The next verse in Proverbs 11 says, “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:25).
    It goes against our nature. We think that keeping what we have for ourselves is the way to build wealth. But God set things up in his kingdom very differently. You might try and stockpile lots for yourself or spend frivolously for your own pleasure, but that leads to more kinds of poverty than penury. I’ve never met a stingy person who was truly happy and or/fulfilled. And I’ve also never met a generous person who was not both. There is something about generosity that brings great blessing, in many more ways than just financial affluence.
    Whatever you have or however much you have, God has shared this with you for you to be a blessing. Are you using your resources to their fullest? Are you sufficiently supporting God’s kingdom work? Are you generous to those around you (I’m appalled at the way some Christians tip). Do you actively look for ways to be a blessing to others?
    Jesus sacrificed his whole life out of love for you. Are you sacrificing what you have for him and his work?