Proverbs Piece #5 - A Sharing Machine

“Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard.”
Proverbs 21:13

I’ve known some pretty stingy people in my lifetime. You couldn’t wring a dollar bill out of them if you tried. They’re the kind of people that never pay when you go out to lunch together. They scrimp and save for heaven knows what all their lives and they wouldn’t buy a box of Girl Scout cookies if it meant somebody else would get something out of it. I call that a pretty selfish life.

Can you imagine what it would be like to get to the end of your life and realize that all you’ve done in accumulating wealth all those years…amounted to nothing? No purpose was accomplished; no good came from it at all except to benefit you. If you’re thinking, “Well, what’s so bad about that?” then I suggest you read on a little farther to see exactly why it’s so bad.

God did not make us to stay cocooned in our own worlds and accumulate things. He gave and gives to us so that we will show His love through becoming a sharing machine! We should not be giving just what’s left over to the poor, but what they need.

Think about this for a moment. When we donate to Goodwill, most of the time we give old stuff that we’ve used and are trying to discard. But what would happen if…just if…we called Goodwill and asked them what they needed most and then went to our closets and gave exactly what they needed? Whoa! That’s a new thought!

The above verse also says that the selfish person “will also cry himself and not be heard.” Someone who is selfish often finds herself alone at the end of her life with no one who really cares about her. She calls the grocery clerk or the bank teller her best friend when she barely knows them. It’s so sad to see someone this lonely. When she is old she cries out for help but no one is listening.

Let me suggest this one thing to you. While you’re able, with what you’re able…give not only stuff, but also give of yourself to others. Be a friend. Enjoy what God blessed you with while you are alive. If you see a need, meet it to the best of your ability. If you have a chance to share with a family poorer than you, find out what they need and go get it for them. People will be drawn to you like a magnet when they see your true heart of unselfishness as you answer the cries of the poor.