Thursday, May 19, 2011

Generosity

Gen 23:11 "No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!"

This was a sad day for Abraham. Sarah, his bride, the love of his life, a woman that God used in a miraculous way, was dead. She lived another 37 years after the birth of Isaac and died in Kirjath Arba. Now this was a problem because Abraham did not own property in this area where he could bury Sarah. As a result, he had to go to the city fathers and ask if anyone there was willing to sell him a piece of property that he could make a burial place for his wife.

The response of the city fathers was cool. "You are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choices of our burial places." These guys respected Abraham. They loved Abraham and they were willing to give him whatever he needed. As a result, Abraham asked about a cave that Ephron owned. When the city fathers and Abraham approached Ephron about this request, he could have said: "Hey. That is a choice piece of property that I have. I want to hang on to it to use in the future to bury my dead, why should I sell it to you?" He didn't, though. Instead he said: "I don't want any money for it…I will give it to you for free." What is the deal with that? Why so generous? Why was this guy willing to give away this land? John MacArthur seems to think the guy wanted to unload this property anyway. That it was a problem to him in that he had to pay taxes and duties on the land. I disagree. I mean, this guy could have sold the property to Abraham (which he eventually did) and pocket the money and not have to deal with taxes and duties that came with the land. Instead, he offered to give it away. Why? I think it goes back to Abraham. I think it goes back to the value that these people placed in him. I think it was because Abraham was so revered. This guy was loved by these people. In fact, Abraham was buried in the same cave when he died. (Gen. 25:9,10)

The point? Love breeds generosity. Let's face it: people give to that which they value. Sure, some people are very generous with their money and their stuff and just give it away without any thought. This, however, is the exception. People usually give to those people and those projects that they have a heart for. Jesus, however, taught differently. He said: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matt. 6:21) Jesus was teaching the total opposite of what Ephron did. Jesus said: "Give and watch what you eventually love."

My take away: Sure, give to those who I love…but also be open to give to those things that I don't necessarily have a heart for…yet. Watch how God molds my heart…it will follow the money.


 

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