Logic Defied

On July 23, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 11: 24        Amplified

There are those who [generously] scatter abroad, and yet increase more; there are those who withhold more than is fitting or what is justly due, but it results only in want.

Have you ever heard anything so counter-intuitive in your life? How can you give away and yet have more or hoard and have less? It makes no sense. Look at the NIV translation rendition of this verse: “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.” I feel compelled to conclude that things work differently in the Kingdom of God than they do in the world.

We could reverse engineer this verse and get an epiphany. This is how that would look. If I want to increase more, then I would want to generously scatter abroad or as the NIV says, I would need to give freely. Now, here is where we have to make a decision. God is telling us one way to increase but all of our experience and logic tell us the exact opposite. If I need money, for example, my natural first response is not to go give money. One might work overtime, sell something or maybe not give to the church this month. That is how we have been taught by the world economic system. Look around you, though, how well is the world economic system working. Have you been listening to the news broadcasts about Greece’s troubles? Greece is not alone. We are all just a few short days away from being broke, busted. Why then are we so heavily invested in the world system? Does that really make sense? We keep investing in a broken system; we keep taking our advice from those who have run entire economies into the ground. Perhaps it is a time for a change in our thinking. Maybe it would be a good thing to take our financial advice from a guy who paves his driveway and roads with gold.

Honestly, if we want to succeed in this life, we are much better off to listen to our heavenly father than to continue to try to get a harvest from depleted fields. Our father has abundant resources staged and awaiting each and every one of us. We need to start listening to Him and applying His advice. It may not seem to make sense at first blush but how much sense does it make for us to continue to pour our money and other resources down the drain. This world system cannot produce fruit. It is broken. How long are we going to continue to try to ride a dead horse? Take a tip from the master investor. Scatter abroad, give generously. Then you will indeed have a great harvest. It’s true!

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Divine Increase

On March 27, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

From The Word of the Day archives on Monday, November 24, 2008

Proverb 11: 24


There is one who scatters, yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, but it results only in want.

What does it mean to scatter? This is a “seed” verse. God always taught sowing and harvesting. It is not just a New Testament principle. You scatter seed. That is a term for sowing your seed. We also talk about broadcasting seed which means we cast our seed out broadly, not narrowly.

God is teaching an important economic lesson here. He is telling us that the person who scatters his seed, or gives, is the one who will receives the most back. The person who is generous, who gives to others, who gives to charities, you makes other people’s needs a concern of their own, will reap all the more. They give out of a kindness in their hearts and a genuine concern for others. God is teaching us that those people will not be in want because more than their seed will come back to them.

Then there is the person who does not give freely. Sometimes he even withholds what is due others. That person will not be able to make enough money because he is violating spiritual law. He will always be in want and need. God set up the universe to work in a certain way. If you work within the system, the system will work for you. If you do not then it will always feel like pedaling uphill.

God’s financial law is the law of sowing and reaping. It is just like gravity. Gravity is a physical law and whether we like it or not, that physical law is in operation. It works all of the time. We live our lives in accordance to the law of gravity because, whether we understand it or not, we understand its application. God’s spiritual laws work the same way. They are in operation all of the time. They are impacting us all of the time. The difference in application of the law of gravity and the law of sowing and reaping as applied in each of our lives, is that we know more about gravity. We learn at a young age the effect of gravity on us. Few people are taught the law of sowing and reaping though. Also, it is opposite of people’s way of thinking. But people didn’t make the universe, God did. So the sooner we learn to think like he thinks, the better off we will be.

In these challenging economic times, it is good to get strong financial advice from God. We should not limit our giving but rather scatter our seed broadly. To the giver go the spoils. I celebrate all of you who are givers and encourage you to keep to your ways. Don’t let what you hear on the news channels frighten you off from being like God. Don’t cut off his giving by cutting off yours.

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