Wise Giving – Proverbs in Practice
Are you eager to give, former procrastinators, but question how? The generous giving the Lord develops in us results in good for someone else and in a deep joy for the giver. What a privilege to be part of God’s provision and blessing!
We look at two sets of Proverbs that provide guidance.
“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.” Proverbs 3:27
This relates to kindness as fruit of the Spirit. A thank you note, an encouraging word, a phone call. I read of a couple who each keeps $20 ready to give when the Lord prompts. Maybe to an elderly person who comes up short at the grocery store or to a young mom admiring flowers she can’t afford. “Take this, please. Jesus loves you.” How fun to see what doors God will open!
We hold back because we can’t meet the entire need. This verse says do the good that we have the power to do. A ride to the doctor, babysitting, a bowl of beans. He enables us to give now. To procrastinate is to withhold.
Proverbs 6:1-5 and 22:26-27 warn us against the financial trap of agreeing to pay another’s debt if he cannot. This is what co-signing does.
“My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, … go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor” to be released. Immediately “save yourself from the hand of the hunter.” “Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts.”
We want to help a child or someone else so we put our name on the document with his to enable him to buy a house or car, for example. He doesn’t have the credit to purchase on his own, so the bank or company requires someone else to sign who can carry the payments. The very real danger is that the “buyer” we trust will not come through with the payments himself – and so the debt falls to us. We cannot control his circumstances or ours. We cannot control his behavior. Yet we agree to take on a debt that should not be incurred in the first place by the person we think we’re helping? Proverbs 6 calls such an agreement a snare. It isn’t wise to enable someone to “buy” something he cannot afford. It isn’t wise to subject our income to loss because someone else fails to pay his debt.
God provides wisdom regarding the best way to give. A letter from Abraham Lincoln speaks to this topic and might prompt ideas.
Our son purchased outright – no loan – a car he’d long wanted and worked for. He said, “I wish I could put on the license plate, ‘Not by Dad.’” All costs came from our son’s labors and his pocket. He enjoyed the car because of his own discipline and effort.
What’s the best way to give to someone God has prompted you to minister to?
