There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is right, but [it tendeth] only to want.
This proverb turns money upside down: give it away and you end up richer, grip it and you end up poor. So who controls the increase — the careful hand, or God?
The word sounds wasteful, like seed flung on the ground. One writer reads it as using what you have for people in need, and puts the outcome in God's hands.
How true it is also that one who scatters, that is, uses his goods to benefit those in need, will increase. It is God who orders this. We should realize that God has only put us in trust with the use of His own goods. Our possessions are not really our own, and God will reward faithfulness. On the other hand, one who stores up for himself holds back from the poor what he could have used for their good. He will very likely be reduced to poverty (v. 24) — if not on earth, then certainly in eternity.
Farming and trade both work for results no one can see yet. One writer sets that ordinary fact against the tight fist, which he traces to fear.
Even farming, trade, and business show faith in what cannot be seen yet, however far they stand from the sovereign grace that is the source of blessing in spiritual things. But the increase does not come without good judgment along the way. On the other hand, stinginess and fear cannot keep want away, nor do they deserve to. He alone is worthy of all trust, and He holds the reins even when everything looks confused. He has the right to shape and guide the heart, and He loves a cheerful giver.
The principle is not limited to cash. It reaches what a person has learnt of God.
We are all equal sharers in these things. The most advanced believer cannot claim a greater share in them than the youngest beginner. He may have seen more of how precious they are, and gone further into how vast they are. Still, what he has learnt is for everyone. If any Christian begins to hoard what he has learnt as though it were his own private treasure, he will lose the joy of it at once. Every other Christian has a God-given right to all these things.
The same proverb stands behind the Lord's own teaching about passing on what you receive.
The more zeal and energy they put into passing on to others what they had received, the more truth they would receive… Grace was giving a revised version of the law of exact repayment. The Lord was not saying to them, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth." He was laying on them a newer and nobler command: "Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you" (Luke 6:38).
The increase does not have to arrive as money. One writer ties it to God's power to supply every kind of grace, so that giving can keep going.
The one who sows seed by scattering abroad what he has to give is dealing with a God "who is able to make all grace abound." Note the word ALL: grace of every kind, grace in spiritual things and grace in material things. As a result, the generous giver is "enriched in every way to all free-hearted liberality" (2 Cor. 9:11). He is enriched by God so that his giving may go on and expand. This enrichment may not take the form of material things. God may choose instead to enrich him in spiritual things, so that the man who began by giving a little money may end up handing out a rich store of spiritual blessing.
Taken as a command, the verse calls for a steady readiness to share — and the Lord attaches a promise to it.
Be always ready to share what you have with others, especially with those in need. Sharing like this does not always leave you with less than you had at first… As the Lord said, "There is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life" (Luke 18:29-30).
- Trust — giving is faith in what you cannot see, like a farmer burying seed. Holding back is fear, and fear cannot keep want away.
- Stewardship — what you hold was never yours. God trusts you with His own goods, and He rewards faithful use of them.
- Reach — this runs past money into truth. Hoard what you have learnt as private treasure and you lose the joy of it.
- Return — God can make every kind of grace abound. He may repay in spiritual riches rather than money, so that your giving keeps growing.
- Result — holding back aims at safety and ends in poverty. Whoever gives for the kingdom's sake receives many times more, now and in the age to come.
The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.