'Refreshing Others'

'Refreshing Others'

Generosity is a divine principle that multiplies life, while withholding only shrinks it. Proverbs 11:24-25 reminds us that “one person gives freely yet gains even more… He who refreshes others will be refreshed” showing that giving isn’t a zero-sum endeavor. Rather, giving enlarges the life of the giver. God designed us so that we can step into His refreshing cycle of generosity. Giving is also a statement of trust. In ancient Israel, the Feast of Firstfruits was one of the earliest required celebrations ordained by God. As soon as the first stalks of grain ripened in the spring, families would gather a sheaf and bring it to the priest as an offering to the Lord. And think about this, they gave their offering before they ate any of the new crop. It was a declaration of faith and gratitude: “Lord, everything that follows comes from You”. This act of giving the first and best, even before knowing how plentiful the rest of the harvest would be, trained their hearts to trust in God’s provision. It helped the Israelites stop and think about God’s past faithfulness, present faithfulness providing the new crop, and God’s future faithfulness. In Malachi 3:10, God tells the Israelites to ‘test’ Him by giving to the temple. Test is trust. God is telling the Israelites that if they trust Him, He will “throw open the floodgates of heaven”. When we, too, give our first fruits to God, we declare our trust in and dependence on Him. God wants us to have a vital trusting relationship with Him out of which all blessings flow. 

That same spirit of faith and forward generosity was embodied in 1944 when Dan West founded Heifer International. Having served as a relief worker feeding war refugees during the Spanish Civil War, West realized that sending a single cup of milk wasn’t enough - families needed a cow, not a cup. His idea grew into a global movement where families in the U.S. could donate livestock—cows, goats, chickens, bees, and more—to families in need around the world. But there was a beautiful twist: each recipient family agreed to “pass on the gift” by giving the first offspring of their animal to another family, multiplying the blessing. Knowledge, resources, and hope spread from one household to the next, creating an ever-growing chain of provision. The gift passed on became 2 herds which became 3 herds, and so on. Giving multiplied the original blessing beyond what any one herder could create. 

In much the same way, when we practice the principle of firstfruits, we give before we see how everything will turn out. Then we discover the multiplication of blessing – blessing that extends out while also returning to us. It’s not merely a financial decision—it’s a faith decision that aligns us with God’s refreshing cycle of generosity, where those who refresh others are themselves refreshed.

Blessings,

Jonathan