“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 70
“The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” (Prov. 11:25).
This is a passage which certainly reinforces the verse just before it. The verse before says something important about the externals. There are people who give away things, and receive things as a result. There are people that horded things, and lose them as a result. But this verse goes a step beyond, and helps us see that something is occurring on the inside.
The liberal soul shall be made fat. There is something about giving that enlarges the soul-capacities of the giver. And if the well-springs of the generosity are found in the heart of the giver, then the act of watering elsewhere is a way, not of losing water, but of gaining it.
In short, Christian generosity is not what is called a “zero sum” game. A zero sum game is illustrated well by an instance of armed robbery. What one person gains, the other loses. But in an act of true generosity, the giver receives as much as the recipient does. Giving is a form of multiplication; it is sowing and reaping, thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold. One of the best places to practice this is within marriage, and within the home. Christians need to learn how to become emotionally healthy (having a fat soul) through the joys of bestowing.