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Show & Share - Proverbs - Cheerful Giver

Today I learned about giving generously with a cheerful heart.

One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

Proverbs 11:24-25 (ESV)

As a continuation of our Youth Ministry teaching series on Proverbs, we learned that those who give generously, without worry or restriction, become richer (more fulfilled, not necessarily more money), blessed, and will be taken care of, but those who don’t give what they should give will never be satisfied and will always want more. In fact, everything we have and will ever have comes from God, so when we give generously, we’re giving from God’s generosity with us, which we get to then show others. But God doesn’t want us to give because we feel like we have to or with a grumpy or sad heart; He wants us to be cheerful givers. (2 Cor 9:6-11) And God doesn’t want us to just talk about how good it is to give, He wants us to give. (1 John 3:17-18) We talked about how we can give more than money; we can give our time, ears, hands, love, forgiveness, wisdom, kind words, etc.

We looked at the account of the widow who Christ said gave more than the rich even though she only gave 2 copper coins because she gave everything she had and did not wait until she had more money to give but gave it then when she had it. (Luke 21:1-4; Pro 3:27-28) Jesus Christ is the greatest example of generously giving with a cheerful heart. He laid down his life for us so that we could have life and life more abundantly. (John 10:10) ! And it is this gift of grace which God gave us through Christ that supplies us with everything we could possibly need and more than enough to be generous, cheerful givers ourselves.

Family Activity: 

Discuss as a family ways that you already give generously with cheerful hearts and what else you might be able to do as a family or individually to help others, not only with material needs but also emotional or spiritual needs.