REFRESHING AND REFRESHED

Proverbs 11.24-25
REFRESHING AND REFRESHED
"...he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." (11.25)

"THE HAND THAT GIVES, GATHERS," SO goes an English proverb. Billy Graham puts it another way, "God has given us two hands — one for receiving and the other for giving." Giving and receiving is part of living. If we have not learnt to give — and to receive — we have not learnt to live.

God has etched an ageless principle upon the world He made: "Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously" (Il Cor 9.6). The more you sow, the more you reap. We accept this as true in farming, but do we believe it as true in living too?

Perhaps, we think in the short-term and see giving as a loss. What you give, you lose. What you keep, you gain. But the divine equation transcends such crass human logic: "One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty" (11.24).

This paradox is applied to service towards others. We sometimes look at people who give themselves so selflessly to others. We imagine they must be utterly drained and depleted. So it may be, and people in the helping profession (e.g. community workers, counsellors, pastors) do need rest to replenish themselves. Yet, they who refresh others are also themselves refreshed.

I can testify in my ministry as a pastor and teacher that I learn more as I teach. I am edified as I edify others. I come away from a counselling situation, naturally tired, but deeply satisfied that I have been of help to someone. The joy of knowing that you have given knows no bounds. I would say it is even greater than the joy of receiving.

"A generous man will himself be blessed..." (22.9). We never can tell the mysterious twists and turns of life. Aesop relates the fable of the lion who spares a mouse. It is a picture of generosity and magnanimity. The day comes when the lion is caught in a net by hunters. Then it is the mouse who nibbles through the net to set the lion free.

When we live long enough, we will find people we have refreshed coming around to refresh us. Nothing we give away is lost. On the contrary, it is the what we hoard that rusts and wastes away. Let us not be afraid to give, for in giving we will in due time receive.

Am I refreshing someone? Am I refreshed in turn?