stingy or Generous

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

STINGY OR GENEROUS

Prov 28:22

22 A stingy man is eager to get rich and is unaware that poverty awaits him.

NIV

The term that it is more blessed to give than receive may be at the core of this truth. Someone who is stingy is so because they are so focused on their own monetary position in life. This is the person who serves money rather than God. This may well be said of those who profess their faith in Jesus Christ , yet are still seeking a well balance financial portfolio hoping they have enough stored up for the later years in their lives. This speaks to the rich farmer who had such an abundant crop he had to tear down his old barns to build new bigger ones. It always amazed us that all he had to do was built one new very big barn to store the extra crop he harvested. But no, he had to make a big show of his abundance of wealth by tearing all the barns he was able to store his normal yearly harvest in. All he needed was one more barn. Yet he did the big show, then thought to himself he now had so much he could retire.

Luke 12:18-19

18 "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." 

  NIV 

He was stingy eager to get rich and was unaware of the poverty that awaited him.

Luke 12:20-21

20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' 21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." 

NIV

Stingy and being for God simply do not mix. We cannot be so focused on our material goods thinking they are only for ourselves, while we profess a belief in Jesus. What we have is not just for us, but for anyone God shows us has a need. Of course this applies to the material, but it also applies to spiritual matters. If we are stingy with the gospel message it will bring us to our own brand of poverty. If we have the so to speak, us four and no more attitude we are, in essence, being stingy. If we prejudge people as not good candidates for believers we are being stingy. If we say, “I can’t share the gospel, I don’t know the bible well enough”, then we are being stingy. We are simply making excuses for being unable or unwilling to give people the opportunity to make their own choice to accept or reject Jesus. If we think like that we need to reassess our thinking. We need to be generous with both our material goods as well as with the good news. People have needs, material and spiritual. However, although money might supply some temporary need in life, the spiritual needs of people, when met, will supply eternal needs. How can we ever, ever be stingy with an eternal need in a person’s life? Do we think our stinginess will win us a reward? Not hardly. So then we need to rid ourselves of any sense of being stingy. That would then mean we need more of being generous.