Live Generously ... It's the Right Thing to Do! Part 1.

Does God really care about all the hoopla that’s been generated by this Election over the past, well, nearly four years since the last Election?

Actually He does. King Solomon tells us – Proverbs 14:34 – that “Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” This wise man, given his wisdom by Jehovah the God of Israel and considered by many in his time to be the wisest of all men, knew that there was a “right” way for people to live. He knew that this “right way” was not simply for individuals. It was the path God intended nations, also, to follow. Nations that rejected this “way of God” did so to their peril.

Facing the final days of our Election we Americans must understand that to deviate from the way our Creator designed for Nations will lead to our “disgrace.” We will become the object of ridicule among all nations. But we will, too, fall from God’s favor. What is right or wrong as it relates to every issue we might want to discuss is a most critical question we must ask as we make our decisions tomorrow.

Obviously this is not the forum nor do we have the time to consider all of those issues. But one of them involves our care and concern for the less privileged and marginalized in our Nation and the world.

The fifth book of the Bible, Deuteronomy, is an extensive discourse by Moses, the great Leader of Israel during their Exodus from Egypt. He is outlining the principles and policies that will be their “Constitution,” if you like, when they become a Nation. He talks about so many things. He reminds them that their God is the one and only true God. He reminds them of God’s favored treatment of them. He talks about God’s commandments and principles and how crucial these are to their quality of life. There’s to be one place of worship. Any semblance of disloyalty to God or His decrees must be eradicated. God and God alone is worthy of their allegiance. Moses talks about practical things meticulously. He talks a lot about money. He speaks in strong tones. He’s conveying commands given to him by God. He is telling the people of Israel what is the right way to handle money matters. For example, he explains that every seven years all debts the Israelis owe one another must be forgiven. With outsiders it will be different. With each other it’s all forgotten. “You may collect payment from foreigners, but whatever you have lent to your fellow Israelite you must write off.” (Deuteronomy 15:3 THE MESSSAGE) Now this is generous! However it is not optional. It must be done this way! But there’s more to it. In the very next paragraph he commands, “There must be no poor people among you because God is going to bless you lavishly in this land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, your very own land. … When you happen on someone who's in trouble or needs help among your people with whom you live in this land that God, your God, is giving you, don't look the other way pretending you don't see him. Don't keep a tight grip on your purse. No. Look at him, open your purse, lend whatever and as much as he needs. Don't count the cost. Don't listen to that selfish voice saying, ‘It's almost the seventh year, the year of All-Debts-Are-Canceled,’ and turn aside and leave your needy neighbor in the lurch, refusing to help him. … Give freely and spontaneously. Don't have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God, your God's, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures. There are always going to be poor and needy people among you. So I command you: Always be generous, open purse and hands, give to your neighbors in trouble, your poor and hurting neighbors.” (Deuteronomy 15: 4 – 11 THE MESSAGE)

Always be generous! This is the point. Generosity is a right attitude! A “stingy” heart is destructive.

Generosity is a principle God practices. God’s way is always the right way. If He gives away His wealth lavishly then His people must do the same.

In the next paragraph Moses makes one more application of this obviously serious principle. “If a Hebrew man or Hebrew woman was sold to you and has served you for six years, in the seventh year you must set him or her free, released into a free life. And when you set them free don't send them off empty-handed. Provide them with some animals, plenty of bread and wine and oil. Load them with provisions from all the blessings with which God, your God, has blessed you. Don't for a minute forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, redeemed you from that slave world.” (Deuteronomy 15: 12 – 15 THE MESSAGE) God has blessed you! Share the blessing with others, even your slaves! Remember, you were slaves once and would still be if it weren’t for God’s generosity in liberating you!
As we wrestle with questions about what’s right for nations – our nation in particular – these excerpts from Moses’ National Policy speech are of major importance. We must manage our wealth with full recognition that we have prospered because of God’s favor. We have been blessed. God has been most generous with us! Let’s be generous. God’s been lavish with us! Let’s be lavish in our dealings with our own “poor” and the “poor” of the world! We live, by God’s determination, in a land of plenty. There is abundance. We will do well to live, as Moses suggested, generously; with “open purses.” Share the blessing – your bounty – with others, even your slaves! For that matter Moses even included foreigners, widows, and orphans among those who must be included in the generous sharing of their bounty. God told Abraham, their Father, that He intended to pour out “blessing” upon “all the families of the earth,” through him and his progeny. He meant it and expected that they would take Him seriously. Broadly inclusive generosity is His way. If it’s His way it is the right way.