| OCTOBER 1, 2023 -- Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Ecclesiastes 11.1
Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender. Proverbs 19:17
Let us not grow weary in well- doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9
There are two common misunderstandings among people that are indirectly addressed in the above quotations. The first, and perhaps worst, is “Why give anything to the poor? There is nothing in it for me.” And the second is “Why give anything to the poor? It never does any good in the long run.”
In my eyes, the problem with both these viewpoints is an inability to rid ourselves of an inner selfishness, too much “me”. Our mission as God’s people is to serve God by serving our fellow humanity, in whatever way we can, whenever we can, and not weigh the possible value of what we do. God had given each of us gifts of time, talent, and treasure, and whatever of that is left over after we take care of our own needs and the needs of our families ought to be given freely whenever and wherever there is a need.
I had a long-time good friend, now deceased, who frequently said: “Cast your bread upon the waters” when asked about various unselfish good works he did for his community and the people in it. The first few times I heard him say it, I didn’t really grasp his meaning, but I gradually came to realize that he meant that the results of what we do are in God’s hands, and we don’t know when we ourselves may be in need of someone else’s generosity.
The older I get the more aware I have become that the more I give unselfishly to other people and to various causes the more I seem to get in return. I am not talking about being paid directly for what I do, but rather that at the end of the year my bank account does not shrink and my store of needed worldly goods does not diminish. It is a mystery that I cannot explain, except that God’s hand is in it somehow.
Glory be to God.
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