Daily Devotionals

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

Devotional: October 28th

“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.”

The Holy Spirit here lets us in on a delightful secret. It is contrary to all that we would expect and yet invariably true. The secret is this: the more you give, the more you have. The more you hoard, the less you have. Generosity multiplies itself. Stinginess breeds poverty. “What I gave, I have; what I spent, I had; what I kept, I lost.”

It doesn’t mean that you will reap the same coinage that you sow, that the faithful steward will become financially rich. He may sow dollars and reap souls. He may sow kindness and reap friends. He may sow compassion and reap love.

It means that a generous person reaps rewards that others cannot know. He opens his mail and learns that the gift of money he sent met a critical need at just the right time and in exactly the right amount. He learns that a book he bought for a young believer was used by God to change the whole direction of a life. He hears that a kindness he showed in the Name of Jesus was a link in the chain of that person’s salvation. He is deliriously happy. His joy knows no bounds. He would never trade places with others who seem to have more than he.

The other side of the truth is that hoarding leads to poverty. We really don’t get pleasure out of money that is lying in the bank. It may delude us with a false sense of security, but it cannot provide true and lasting enjoyment. Any meager interest that the money may earn is peanuts compared with the thrill of seeing money used for the glory of Christ and the blessing of our fellow-men. The man who withholds more than is meet may have a large bank balance but he has a small joy balance in this life and a small credit balance in the bank of heaven.

Today’s verse is intended not only to set forth a divine principle but also to issue a divine challenge. The Lord is saying to us, “Prove it for yourself. Make your loaves and fishes available to Me. I know you intended to have them for your own lunch. But if you turn them over to Me, there will be plenty for your own lunch and for thousands of others. You would feel awkward to eat your lunch while those around you were just sitting, watching you eat. But think of the satisfaction of knowing that I used your lunch to feed the multitude.”

We lose what on ourselves we spend

We have as treasure without end

Whatever, Lord, to Thee we lend,

Who givest all.

—Charles Wordsworth