Giving is a Ministry (Proverbs 19:17)

To give unto others in need is not necessarily giving u what we have. The Lord will always repay.

"He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and that which he has given He will repay to him." Proverbs 19:17, Amplified

The idea of giving with the intent of receiving back is not what the Bible is trying to portray here. The heart of the giver should never be in the state of wanting back. Paul wrote of giving many different times in his epistles, but in one instance he uses some unusual vernacular. "So let each one give has he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or out of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver." (Second Corinthians 9:7, NKJV) First focusing on the giving: we have to purpose within ourselves what we give. There is no prescription on what to give, the only stipulation is that when we do give that it not be grudgingly or out of necessity. Our giving should be out of want and desire. Notice too, that there is no mention of money in this verse. There are many different ways that we can give. Now concerning the interesting vernacular. God loves a cheerful giver. The word for cheerful in the Greek is actually "hilarious". God loves an hilarious giver: one who gives extremely generously.

There is another interesting verse in the Bible I want to examine as well. "Cast your bread on the waters, for you will find it after many days." (Ecclesiastes 11:1, NKJV) This verse also speaks of giving, but notice the language. If one was to cast bread upon the water, he would have to do so with the expectation of completely loosing the bread. As bread gets soggy, it is destroyed. But the Bible tells us that if we give without the expectation of receiving back, we will find it after many days. The only way that this could happen is if the Lord was and is involved.

Even Jesus spoke of giving to His disciples. "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison an you came to Me.' then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'" (Matthew 25:34-40, NKJV) You see, even Jesus noted different ways in which we could give of ourselves which does not involve money.

Realize, as well, that giving is also a ministry. "For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, n that you ministered to the saints, and do minister." (Hebrews 6:10, NKJV)

Choice (Proverbs 19:16)

It is important for us all to follow what the Lord has told us to do. Not only personally, but also corporately within the realm of Scripture.

"He who keeps the commandment [of the Lord] keeps his own life, but he who despises His ways shall die." Proverbs 19:16, Amplified

There is nothing in the Bible that is going to be detrimental to ourselves, whether in body, spirit or soul. Nothing bad comes out of the commandments that the Lord gives us. In fact Jesus Himself responded to a comment made from the crowd, "And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, 'Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!' But He said 'More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!'" (Luke 11:28, NKJV) We are blessed more than Mary herself when we hear the word of God and keep that commandments that we hear. Even testing the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus turned right back to the word of God. "And behold a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' He said the them, 'What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?' So he answered and said, '"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind," and "your neighbor as yourself."' And He said to him, 'You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.'" (Luke 10:28, NKJV) The lawyer had the answer if front of him the whole time. He was quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. What he chose to do was ignore it.

You see we have the choice to hear and obey, but we also have the choice to hear and ignore. What the Bible says is that if we ignore what it says, we shall die. Inevitably, if we follow the commandments set up by the Lord (that are not detrimental to ourselves) we live good lives and better eternal lives. However, if we choose to not follow those commandments we follow our sin nature we will inevitably die.

The Slothful and the Idle (Proverbs 19:15)

Slothfulness, laziness and idleness all have one thing in common: the destruction of self.

"Slothfulness casts one into a deep sleep, and the idle person shall suffer hunger." Proverbs 19:15, Amplified

Nothing good can come out of laziness. Like the Bible says here in this verse that it is going to cast one into a deep sleep. When one sleeps, nothing physical happens outside the body. It is almost like the person is sleepwalking. With laziness, entropy takes over the body and life of that person.

Idleness is that state of doing nothing. When a car is turned on and running, but is not moving, it is considered to be idling. Our idle hands will cause us to suffer hunger.

There is not much more to say about this verse, it is pretty self explanatory. My life suffered much idleness and laziness. Because of this I am not real happy with where I am at in my life on a professional level. I could have done more. But now, with determination and hard work I will get to where I feel I need to be.

Also be aware that when one suffers laziness, slothfulness and idleness, he becomes unable to be directed from the Lord. Our walks are always moving, either forward or backward. Direction only comes from the Lord when we are moving in a forward motion. Don't get me wrong, I do believe the Lord can speak to anyone at any time in whatever state their heart is in. But in order for us to know and understand where the Lord desires us to be, we need to be moving forward.