NearnessNäide

One thing I love about Proverbs 11:25 (NIV) is the idea that generosity is simply something that “refreshes others”. Generosity can obviously be financial, but it can also be applied to your time, your words, your gifts, your stuff, and your home. Everything God has given you can be used to be generous. That’s so beautiful.

At the same time, when the Bible talks about prospering, it sets off little alarm bells in my mind. What does it mean to prosper? Is this saying we’ll get back everything we give? I’m not sure about that.

“It’s better to give than to receive” has to be one of the most common Christian clichés. But, is that all this verse is saying—that giving is good for your inner peace?

There’s a phrase I really like that helps make sense of this: “We live in an economy of grace.” Everything we have is because of God’s generosity to us. Health, money, relationships, salvation. His call to us is to be generous in return. When we do that, it often creates a community where people look out for one another. Some are generous with time, some with money, some with practical help. It’s the image of the body— unique parts working together.

There may be times where you may not feel like you’ve received something equal to what you have given—there’s no promise that if you give something away, you’ll get double back. But we see on the cross a radical generosity towards us, that we can never repay in return— Jesus gave Himself entirely for our sake. What we receive in Jesus is more fulfilling than anything else we can be given on this earth. When we grasp this, we will rarely find ourselves lacking because we were too generous.

Proverbs isn’t a book of promises or prophecies—it’s a book about wisdom, and it is wise to be generous. When you refresh others, you are often refreshed. That is a wise way of living that God offers us.

Today, ponder this: what areas of my life can I use generously to refresh someone else?