Can God Borrow Some $ From You?

April 19

Read: Proverbs 19

Lending to the Lord

“Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life;

he who despises his ways will die.

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD,

and he will repay him for his deed.” (v.16,17)

(Well, we woke up to leave Greenville SC at 3:30am today and I am writing to you now from Costa Rica… I have lost count of how many hours later. Thank you for the prayers fro those of you who knew about our trip. I will spend the next 10 days here with our Vox students as well as my oldest daughter Emma. We anticipate an exciting and powerful time here learning from the people of Costa Rica and serving. I am excited to share more with you all.)

In Luke 10:25-28 a man approaches Jesus and asks: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” This is a famous passage that ends with what we know as the “golden rule”:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

This is not a new idea that started here with Jesus. No, the people of God have always been called to this “commandment”. It is THE “commandment”. We see in Proverbs 19:16 that “Whoever keeps THE COMMANDMENT keeps their life; and those who despise the ways of the Lord will die.” It is only in the ways of the Lord that we find life. There are many who try to twist these ideas though. There are even some who seem to speak the opposite…They paint a picture of our journey with the Lord as one of emptiness, suffering, and destruction. The odd thing here is that it is in “despising” the ways of the Lord that we find DEATH… not in walking in them. At times we may be suspicious… we think to ourselves: “Will it really work out for me? If I give my heart… soul… and strength to the Lord, what will be left for me? Shouldn’t I keep some part of me back? Save a little for myself?” What happens when we heap the second part of the commandment on? What happens when we read Proverbs 19:17?

“Love your neighbor as yourself… Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.”

When we give all of ourselves to the Lord and then add onto that courageous generosity to the poor… man it makes us vulnerable! What can we expect to find if we live this way? The scriptures don’t seem to be afraid to say it even if we are: we find “LIFE” and we WILL BE REPAID by God himself. Verse 17 shows us a very unique link between the poor and God- so much so that generosity to them is the same as lending to the Lord. What an odd idea: God borrowing something from us! What is God “borrowing” from us? He is “borrowing” from us action in this world… our participation in what he is doing. You know what else he is doing? He is making US poor so we can be linked with him as well!

Our interactions with “the poor” - whomever we find that to be - should be marked by generosity. We cannot love God with all our heart, soul, and strength and then neglect “lending” to him. Do you despise the ways of the Lord? Do you despise his call to give it all? How do you view the “poor” who have this unique bond with God? It is God who is asking you to “borrow” something… what will you say? Love you guys. - JDP