Give While There is Still Opportunity

Proverbs 3:28  

 Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it," When you have it with you.

Each time I read this verse my thoughts rush immediately to my late dad.  Over the latter part of his life he told me time and again, as if he were trying to leave me a precious nugget, “Son, I have always thought it to be a sin if I saw someone in need and money in my pocket to help them but did not.”   In my younger years I watched him time and again live out this core value of his life even at times to the detriment of him or his family.  He simply could not say “no” to a person in need and surely was taken advantage of many times, but that never kept him from giving.  Even the week before his death when Hospice was attending him he had someone drive him, while still in his pajamas, to minister to a family in need.

Let me explain something about my dad.  He loved the Lord, but he still had many rough areas in his life that he never overcame.  Others may have looked and acted more spiritual than him but I can assure you no one loved people and served people like him.  His giving was simply an outpouring of his love.  I do not even know if he ever read Proverbs 3:28: “Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it,’ When you have it with you” , but I do know that Christ had etched it upon his heart.  And isn’t this the very essence of the Christian life?  Aren’t the two great commandments to “Love God’ and to “Love People?”

My dad simply loved people and he displayed that love through ministering to the needs of anyone that sought help from him.   He taught me many things, but the greatest lesson was to love people and always lend a helping hand.   Next month will mark the fifth anniversary of his homegoing but still etched in my mind is  his words, “Son, I have always thought it to be a sin if I saw someone in need and money in my pocket to help them but did not” and his actions that proved his sincerity.  He was a living example of Proverbs 3:28 that commands us to give while there is still opportunity.  I pray I can only love others as much and be as faithful in helping others.

Love you, Dad.