Posted on 08/10/2021 11:05:18 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty” (Proverbs 11:24 KJV).
Now this is a great promise that can be applied to farming, and business, but mainly it is applied to life and being liberal with your resources in helping others. It also refers to giving. This is also an unnatural law, for you wouldn’t think that this is the way it should be but that is the way it is. How can a man get more by giving it away? God will often give more through you than He will ever give to you—depending upon what you do with what He entrusts you with.
A farmer scatters seed, yet he increases seed. Normally, with money that isn’t true. Usually when folks give their money away to others, they end up themselves in the poor house. But if a man gives for the right reasons and to the right causes, then God can increase him, and bless him for it. Now, this is not speaking of the so-called “prosperity movement” where people are taught to give expecting God to give to them in return, like some quid pro quo. It doesn’t always happen, and if a man gives to get rich—God won’t give to you. James addresses this: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3 KJV).
God knows a man’s heart, and He certainly knows his motives behind his actions. Paul deals with wrong motives in this passage: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (I Timothy 6:6-10 KJV).
Face it, the less money we have, the less stuff we lust after. The more money you have the more you are tempted to purchase junk that will only end up in a closet gathering dust or being sold in a garage sale for pennies on the dollar. Material things are temporary, eternal things are, well, eternal—secured in the heavenlies. How many people have had a real honest-to-goodness insatiable lust for a Boeing 747? The reason, naturally, is that it is beyond our means to purchase it. But if it were within our price range, what then? The more potential to buy, the more nonsense we will buy—so when we have less, and we are smart—we learn to live within our means and under budget.
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Having been raised with very little, we learned to never throw out anything.
The problem is, when you get enough stuff, then there’s the tendency to save it all. Material things can get quite a grip on you.
Our recent move to NH has forced us to downsize and we are still getting rid of stuff and I am learning to let go.
I heard it expressed this way once. *The Tyranny of clutter*.
It’s so true.
I think we all have a little hoarder in us …
Bump.
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