Open Hands, Not Tight Fists

tight-fisted

Tight-fisted

open handed

Open Handed

“ …you shall not harden your [minds and] hearts or close your hands to your poor brother; but you shall open your hands wide to him …”Deuteronomy 15:7,8 Amplified Bible

 

We tend to measure success by what we are able to acquire. We get what we can and then ‘can’ what we get. The pile gets higher … the envy of our peers becomes our reward and we turn our attention to the next rung on the ladder.

Conventional wisdom sees no value in what slips through our hands … it celebrates only what we can grasp and hang on to. But God appears more interested in how much flows through us … not what accumulates around us.

He favors open hands rather than clenched fists!

He frowns, however, at unopened hands when a need is obvious. Proverbs 3:27 in the Message reads: Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person. (“Hey buddy, God wants you to have this dime.” Hardly!) He warns Israel in Deuteronomy 15 not to assume that a need will be met by another or at a later date.

A tight-fisted child doesn’t represent an open-handed and open-hearted Father very well. When God gives, He tends to go way, way overboard.

So this week, release the tension in that tightened fist. Let go easily. Leave an extra dollar in that tip. Don’t assume that every need is a scam. Ask God to guide your heart and your hands. Be ready to extend God’s hand through your reach.

Err on the side of generosity … never on the side of stinginess. After all, if what we have is all God’s, then even if given away, there’s lots more where that came from!

“Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.” I Timothy 6:17-19 The Message”

 

Enjoy the journey!

 

Paul Walterman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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One Response to “Open Hands, Not Tight Fists”

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