Proverbs 11:24-26
One person is generous and yet grows more wealthy,
but another withholds more than he should and comes to poverty.
A generous person will be enriched,
and the one who provides water for others will himself be satisfied.
People will curse the one who withholds grain,
but they will praise the one who sells it.
Want to get rich? Give your money away. What? A generous person will be enriched. Enriched means to get fat. A generous person will get fat. Obesity isn’t cool anymore like it used to be. Thin is in. Grossly thin is in. Fatness is out of style. But it was in style at the time of this proverb. If you were fat, it mean you had a lot of money. You had enough money to buy enough food to make you fat. Most people were just trying to eat more than once a day. But, if you were rich, you could eat as much as you wanted, as often as you wanted.
It seems like the opposite would be true. It seems that if you want to grow wealthy, you’d want to save every penny you have. You’d be out walking the parking lots looking for dropped pennies. You’d be working as many hours as you can get and not spending a dime of it. You collect as much as you can.
You certainly wouldn’t give any of it away. You worked hard for it. So, you don’t want to just give it away.
But that’s precisely what this proverb tells us to do. The person who is generous grows more wealthy, while the one who witholds more than he should becomes poor. The generous person gets fat with riches, the one who provides for others is satisfied. But, the one who holds resources to himself – resources that others need – that person gets cursed.
If you want to be fat with wealth, give it all away. The first person is one of a generosity who is charitable. The second person is one who gives gifts and the third is who is praised for selling the grain that people need to survive – as in a time of drought.
So, if you want to be rich, and wealthy and be praised for the way you are you with your money – give it all away!
