Generosity – Proverbs 14:20-21

“God created us to be in relationships, and the authors identify four relationships that are essential for life: relationships with the triune God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation. When these relationships are functioning properly, humans experience true shalom, and approach the destiny for which God created them. We are able to fulfill our calling to glorify God by working and supporting ourselves and our families with the fruit of our labor.”  That is the basis for understanding poverty, according to Corbett and Fikkert, authors of the book, When Helping Hurts.  I can be impoverished in all those relationships.  We commonly only think of poverty in regards to relationship with creation, that is, financial poverty.

The poor is disliked even by his neighbor, but the rich has many friends.

Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor. (Proverbs 14:20–21, ESV)

You and I tend to like people for what they can do for us.  The poor can’t do much for anyone, financially, that is.  They need help from others more than they can give help.  And there are emotionally rich people from who we seek relationship and emotionally poor people who don’t have much to give to us.  So we gravitate toward the “rich” and avoid the “poor.”

Obviously, then, the “friendships” we tend to develop in this way aren’t very good friendships.  Real friendship is giving, not just taking.  If we’re only takers in a relationship we are sinners.  Takers despise those who cannot enrich them in some way.  God calls us to be generous to everyone, and those who are rich in relationship with God always have something to give.

There’s a story told in the movie World War Z of earth becoming infected with some plague that turns healthy people into zombies.  Zombies attack others who are not zombies to spread the infection.  When those trying to figure out how to stop this realize that the zombies only attack healthy hosts and avoid and ignore unhealthy hosts, they now have the means to stop the infection.  They give themselves diseases that will make them immune to zombie attacks, diseases they can cure but that in the meantime make them invisible to zombies.

When you only gravitate toward those who can be a healthy host, can give you something you need, you are acting like the zombies in this movie.  Don’t be a zombie, which is another way of saying, don’t be a sinner.