June 23

Jun 23 - Today from Proverbs 23 we look at verse 7
"He (the stingy man, verse 6), is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost. "Eat and drink," he says to you, but his heart is not with you."

I happen to know people like this. I knew one particular person quite intimately - myself. I wish I could tell you that I am now as generous as God would have me. I wish I could tell you that my faith is now perfect and my values never waiver. If I did, I would be lying to you. But, by the grace of God, I am so much further than I used to be. Perhaps one day I will able to be consistently generous without ever considering the cost.
It's confession day. I am going to reveal something of the person I was before I met and came to truly know the Lord Jesus. I didn't know it then, but I was stingy. I believed I was the master of my time. I often equated my money (and it wasn't that much), with the time it took me to earn it. My poor wife. After our children came, she devoted her time to being a mother and the keeper of our home. I could no longer equate any of our money with her time, so my attitude was that our money related to my time. (Please - this isn't easy. The Lord had a lot of work to do on this boy.) When we went out to a restaurant and the kids wouldn't finish their meal, I would calculate how many hours I had to work in order for us to have this wonderful time out together, and I would get a little attitude. The time ended up being not as wonderful as it could have been. When my wife went out and shopped for Christmas gifts for the boys, my mental calculator went into overdrive. "Do you realize how many hours I had to work for all of that stuff?" How could she be so reckless with my time? As the days approached April 15, it was unbearable to be in the same room with me. I would calculate how many months I worked for the government the past year, and I would seethe. I rarely verbalized it, but it clearly affected my attitude. It wasn't constant. I could enjoy myself. If you were picking up the tab, I could really enjoy our time together. If I were picking it up, I was as much fun as the man in our proverb today. "Go ahead and order whatever you want. It's my turn." But please, stay out of the entrees and stick with a sandwich. Do you know how long I would have to work to pay for a t-bone? That's the curse of stinginess. I still despise any residue of stinginess that may cling in the corners of my soul. It is so unbecoming of the generosity and graciousness of my Lord and Savior.
What changed me? I became a disciple of Christ. He changed me. He became my living example of ultimate generosity. He showed me what the real values in life are. He revealed to me that my time is not my own. He taught me kingdom principles. He showed me what real love is. One thing love is not - it's not stingy. Love is abundant and overflowing. Love loves to see others blessed. Love is obedience to the Author of love. Love is letting God lead in very area of your life. God is love. (1 John 4:8)
Before I became a true disciple, I thought I was doing pretty good by dropping a ten spot in the offering plate. If I was really feeling blessed, I might double it. (I just knew God was proud of me on those days!) Little did I know that I was bound by stinginess of soul. It was only after He taught me (us - my wife was being discipled right along side me), about the tithe that I realized how selfish and prideful I was toward God. We have tithed every penny we earned since that day, and God freed me from bondage to stinginess. I don't think about the cost any more. In fact, I cannot afford to think about the cost of being generous. If one understands kingdom principles - there really is no cost. You simply cannot out-give God.