Got to Quit Holding Out

Got to quit holding out!

Proverbs 3:27

Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do [it].

               How many times are we in a position to be a blessing, especially to someone deserving, and we hold back?  Maybe it as simple as giving a little extra on the tip to good waiter or waitress.  Maybe it is something as simple as spending more time with a person you say you love.  Maybe it is just pitching in and helping or lending a hand to a friend, neighbor or family member.  There are many ways we can rob deserving individuals because of selfishness in our hearts. 

               What if I need a helping hand and no one is willing to help me?  What if there is something that is really special that I need or want badly but can’t afford it and no one is willing to help me? 

               The truth is we are all constantly surrounded by the needs of others.  We have the wife or husband always expressing their needs, the children demanding their needs, letters in the mail asking for money, knocks on the door and a barrage of phone solicitors that need and want something from you.   And then of course we go to church and we need to give there.  It easy for us to grow callused in our hearts to the pleas and needs of others.  Then one day when we are down and out or facing a pressing need, we may wonder why someone isn’t there for us?  Or perhaps they are there for us and we are convicted of the fact that we have never been there for them.  

               Often the hardest thing for me is to do is give out what I feel I need to be holding on too.  After all there is only so much and if I don’t horde it back there won’t be enough for later.  Do any of you share that mentality with me?  One of the areas I believe God is dealing with me personally in is the area of giving.  Sometimes we can be faithful to give in one area, but then justify not giving in another.  Jesus spoke to some Pharisees like that in Luke 11:41-42, “So give to the needy what you greedily possess, and you will be clean all over. But how terrible it will be for you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you completely forget about justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things.”  How many of us may be the same way in our lives, we are generous or faithful in our giving in one area, but then we are robbing someone in another area.  We justify our lack of giving in the one area by our faithful giving in another.  Jesus is saying, no, that is legalism, that is not the true heart of a giver.  A giver will give when they see no more supply in front of them.  They just believe that there is more coming.  The more selfish and greedy person is only willing to give out of their abundance based on the supply that they have.  The giver is living out of faith, but the selfish and greedy person is living out of fear and unbelief.  He is trusting in himself and not in God who supplies all of our need according to His riches in glory.  What if I’m to be the supply for someone’s particular need, but I decide to withhold?  Have I robbed God’s supply to that individual or that need?  Have I kept back what God intended for someone else for my selfish gain?  This can take place on many different levels, financially, emotionally, physically, spiritually; we must ask ourselves where we might be withholding good from whom it is due. 

               The love of God in us must express itself in giving.  It is true that there are often more demands upon us to give than what we have resources for, but what is the attitude of our heart?  Is it always open to God’s direction in giving?  Is it willing to give out of need rather than just out of its abundance?  Jesus saw the widow’s mite given in the temple and expressed to His disciples that she had given more than all the other wealthy givers.  The difference was that she gave out of her need and they out of their excess.  I know the Lord is dealing with attitudes in my heart concerning the spirit of giving, how about you?  I know that as long as I am not a true giver, I am not a true lover and the Love of God is still lacking in my heart.  The Lord has to be the resource and the motivation for all that I do, not so I can impress men, but so that I might please Him.  We need to all ask God for a revelation of our hearts in the area of giving.  We all want to be faithful to ‘withhold not good from whom it is due, when it is in the power of our hand to do it.’

Blessings,

#kent

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