Want to Increase Your Wealth? Be Generous.
This week’s installment of Quotes to Live By wants to take a slightly different turn. Instead of quoting a famous person, historical figure, or something profound that was said by Doug in Marketing, I’m going to take a look at a Bible verse about being generous. Technically, I suppose, it is a quote from Solomon.
“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” – Proverbs 19:17
Who was Solomon?
Solomon was the son of King David (you may remember him as the writer of the majority of the Psalms). But what makes Solomon truly unique is not who he was related to, but rather what he asked of God. Solomon followed God’s commands, and found His favor. In return, God told Solomon that he could have whatever he wanted (presumably anything in the world). Instead of wealth, land, or an ever increasing kingdom, Solomon was humble. He asked for wisdom and knowledge so that he would be best able to lead the people God put in his care.
As a result, God gave him wisdom and knowledge. But also he gave him wealth and honor as well.
Being Generous to the Poor
The Bible has a lot to say about the poor. It talks about helping them, being generous to them, encouraging them, and supporting them. The Bible tells us that we have to make sure that we use our gifts from God appropriately; if we have been blessed with a lot, then we should return that favor.
Jesus later extrapolates on a similar subject. He is talking to “the righteous” people of that time. He states that every time you help out “the least of these” you did it to me. When you go out of your way to help those who are struggling, you are going out of your way to help God.
The bible never condemns poverty (although it does talk about bad choices leading to it); but Jesus had a special heart for those that were poor.
God Will Repay You
In Proverbs we see that we being generous to the poor isn’t just about making ourselves feel good. Instead, it is like giving a loan to God. In the end, we will be repaid for our loan (is that with, or without interest?).
Now this begs the question: do we act with generosity because it’s the right thing to do, or are we generous because we want God to repay us? In essence, it doesn’t really matter. Either way God’s will is done, what matters is how we get our reward.
Will we be repaid a dollar spent a dollar repaid, or will we be repaid many times over? The Bible is clear that God is fair; he says he will repay us and he will. But if we do it for the right reason, then we will be repaid many times over.
21st Century Business Application
Now it’s pretty easy to see that giving a dollar to a guy on the corner is helping out the poor. But since I write about business, marketing, content writing, and SEO, how does this apply?
First, from a search engine optimization standpoint, don’t be stingy with helping others out! Over on Sery Content Development I have a weekly post called the Wednesday Roundup. That roundup gathers great information that others have written, and puts it into a nice package. Anyone that has written anything is welcome to send me a link and see if it fits an upcoming roundup! I love helping out fellow bloggers, and hope that they will do the same for me.
Second, from a business and marketing standpoint, I see this as a call to help others instead of helping myself. My ultimate goal is to offer incredibly high quality services, at a reasonable rate. Sure I want to make a ton of money; everyone would love to be highly compensated for their work. But I also want to make sure that everyone can afford what I offer. Which is why I want to price my services and products so that they are easily within reach of even those just starting out on a shoestring budget.
If I stick to the goals of being generous, I claim God’s promise of repaying me. Although I know that repayment is sometimes in the form of building a friendship, and knowing that I did the right thing.
Be Generous, Be Good, Be Faithful
In my personal life I donate time and money to those in need. Generally that is through donating to Compassion International, to Emmanuel Baptist Church, and to other organizations. But I make sure to help others because I have been blessed by God with more than I actually need.
How are you being generous with your time, money, talents, and knowledge?