Become More Generous

The following is taken from today’s devotion in “The Word for You Today.”

"THE WORLD OF THE GENEROUS GETS LARGER AND LARGER."
PROVERBS 11:24 (The Message)

Why should you be generous?
Because:

(1) Generosity turns your focus outward.
Giving is simply changing your focus from yourself to others.
When you're occupied with helping others there's little room for selfishness.
Seneca said, "No man can live happily who turns everything to his own advantage. You must live for others if you wish to live for yourself."

(2) Generosity adds value to others.
The greater your giving, the greater your living.
President Woodrow Wilson said, "You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget that!"
Jesus spent His life lifting people. Why?
Because nobody stands taller in the climb to success, than when he or she reaches down to help someone else up.
And, when you add value to others you take nothing away from yourself.

(3) Generosity helps the giver.
A panhandler once asked a woman for money. "I'll give you a dollar, not because you deserve it but because it pleases me," she said.
"Thank you, ma'am" he replied, "why not make it $10 and thoroughly enjoy yourself?"
Doesn't it make you feel good when you do something for another person?
And don't you feel specially rewarded when their need is acute?
Ruth Smeltzer said, "You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you've done something for someone who'll never be able to repay you."
That's why Solomon wrote, "The world of the generous gets larger and larger...The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed" (Pr 11:24-25 TM).
Do you want to be blessed? Become more generous!