What does this passage mean, “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want”?
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Proverbs 11:24
ESV - 24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.
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Tim Maas
An empirical or "common-sense" view of giving might conclude that the more of their resources that people give away to charitable causes, the poorer it would make them. Conversely, the more of their resources that those people hoarded for themselves, the wealthier they would be. However, in "God's economy", generosity (even at the expense of one's own resources) is rewarded (including through unending eternal benefits), whereas miserliness or greed (despite the avaricious intent of those who practice it) results in ultimate loss -- whether of those very temporal resources, the individual's reputation among others, or (ultimately) of the possibility of eternity in God's presence (Luke 16:19-31).
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