At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
“He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; For he giveth of his bread to the poor”
Proverbs 22:9
One of the consistent themes of Scripture is that generosity is profitable. We hesitate to put it that way because some people want to reduce profit to a cold calculating thing, and the image of a miser sitting on a pile of coins comes to mind.
But Scripture teaches us that we should give in order to get, in order that we might be in a better position to give yet again.
The generous man is said here to be blessed, and we should be able to see that he is blessed in at least two ways. It says that he is blessed for he gives bread to the poor. There is a blessing in the giving itself. The apostle Paul refers to the Lord’s teaching in order to make this point. “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). There is a blessing in receiving, but in this place the giving and receiving are set in contrast, and the giving part is to be preferred.
But to receive is very good also, particularly if the person receiving has learned this secret. When God bestows on us, He is doing it to see what sort of stewards we shall be. If we take what He has given, and use it in the service of generosity and hospitality, He sees that we can be trusted with that kind of thing. Because we have shown that we can be trusted, He entrusts us with more. We give to get, in order to give again.
And so the generous man is blessed in and through the giving. But he is also blessed the second way—when he is enabled to give some more.
