There is a strange kind of math in God’s kingdom: the more you pour out, the more you seem to have. Proverbs 11:25 paints a picture of a person whose generosity doesn’t leave them empty, but somehow fuller—whose willingness to refresh others ends up circling back as refreshing in their own soul. Today’s verse invites you to trust that God’s way of giving, serving, and opening your life is not a fast track to burnout, but the path to true abundance.

The Upside-Down Economy of God

In our world, security feels connected to storage: more saved, more protected, more kept for ourselves. But God’s Word describes a different economy. “A generous soul will prosper, and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:25). Prosperity here is not a shallow promise of riches; it is the deep wholeness that comes when your life is aligned with God’s heart. Jesus echoes this when He says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38). God is not a debtor; He delights to pour into those who pour out.

This doesn’t mean you treat God like an investment plan—give a little, get a little more back. It means you trust that He Himself is your reward. When you sow generously—your time, your money, your encouragement—He promises a harvest: “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Corinthians 9:6). The question is not, “Will this cost me?” but, “Do I believe God is faithful enough to fill what I empty for His sake?”

Becoming a Channel, Not a Container

Think of your life less like a storage tank and more like a riverbed. God’s design is not that His blessings would pool and stagnate, but that they would move through you. Paul writes, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). Notice the flow: grace comes to you so that it can move through you into “every good work.” When you clutch your resources, you clog the channel. When you open your hands, the river can run.

Jesus described those who believe in Him this way: “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him’” (John 7:38). That is a picture of spiritual refreshment spilling out into dry places—your home, your workplace, your church, your neighborhood. You are not meant to be a spiritual cul-de-sac; you are meant to be a through-street for the goodness of God.

Everyday Ways to Refresh a Thirsty World

Refreshing others is not limited to dramatic acts of generosity. It can be as simple as what Jesus described: “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42). A listening ear, an unexpected text, a meal dropped off, a quiet financial gift, a faithful prayer—these are cups of cold water in a hot, exhausted world. You may forget them, but God does not.

And when serving feels costly and unnoticed, remember the promise: “Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). God sees every unseen act of refreshment. Often, the very moment you feel most drained is when He is preparing to meet you with new strength, joy, and clarity in Him. The path of pouring out, when walked in obedience and dependence, is not a path to emptiness—it is the road where you keep meeting the God who fills.

Lord, thank You for refreshing me with Your grace; today, show me one person I can tangibly refresh in Your name, and give me the courage to obey.

But the God we must see is not the utilitarian God who is having such a run of popularity today, whose chief claim to men's attention is His ability to bring them success in their various undertakings and who for that reason is being cajoled and flattered by everyone who wants a favor. The God we must learn to know is the Majesty in the heavens, God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, the only wise God our Savior. . . . The knowledge of the holy God is a free gift to men who are open to receive it.

First, we must forsake our sin. . . . "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."

Second, there must be an utter committal of the whole life to Christ in faith. This is what it means to "believe in Christ." It involves a volitional and emotional attachment to Him accompanied by a firm purpose to obey Him in all things. . .

Third, there must be a reckoning of ourselves to have died unto sin and to be alive unto God in Christ Jesus, followed by a throwing open of the entire personality to the inflow of the Holy Spirit. Then we must practice whatever self-discipline is required to walk in the Spirit, and trample under our feet the lust of the flesh.

Fourth, we must boldly repudiate the cheap values of the fallen world. . . .

Fifth, we must practice the art of long and loving meditation upon the majesty of God. . . The focal point of man's interest is now himself. Humanism in its various forms has displaced theology as the key to the understanding of life. . . .

God is a Person and can be known in increasing degrees of intimate acquaintance as we prepare our hearts for the wonder. . . .

Sixth, as the knowledge of God becomes more wonderful, greater service to our fellow men will become for us imperative. This blessed knowledge is not given to be enjoyed selfishly. The more perfectly we know God the more we will feel the desire to translate the new-found knowledge into deeds of mercy toward suffering humanity. The God who gave all to us will continue to give all through us to know Him better (The Knowledge of the Holy, pp. 121-23).

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matthew 5:6).

Good hope through grace. - 2 Thessalonians 2:16

In 1 Peter 1:13 we are exhorted to " set our hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought at the appearing of Jesus Christ." It is to be " brought unto you." Now, the margins of your Bibles give you a truer notion of the Apostle’s meaning. He did not write "that is to be brought," as if the gift was all a future one, but " that is being borne towards you "; or, as one of the old commentators on Peter says, in his archaic and forcible English, " the grace that is a bringing to you." The word is the same which is used to describe the audible approach of that mighty wind on the Day of Pentecost - "rushing." The notion suggested is that this great gift has, as it were, already started on its passage towards us, across the fields of space and the ages of the world. It is in motion towards us, as if some choir of angels were winging their way to this small island in the deep - across the abysses, bearing in their hands this holy bestowment. It is bearing down upon us, like a ship at sea, or like some star travelling towards us, first a point of light, then a disc of brightness, then a world of glory which envelops us. That representation is true, because every tick of the pendulum brings "the grace " nearer. Though centuries pass before the light from the far-off shining reaches us, it is travelling, travelling, travelling towards us at every moment. So we should hope. Peter further suggests to us that this swiftly moving and approximating grace is all wrapped up in " the appearing of Jesus Christ." When He comes, it comes; for it is but the impartation of Him, and we know that " when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

Such, then, is the object of Christian hope stated in its most general terms - a grace which includes resurrection, salvation, righteousness, eternal life, the glory of God, and that grace ever tending towards us, and that ever tending grace to be ours in its fulness, when Christ is manifested and "we shall be manifested with Him in glory." How different in its dignity, in its certainty, in its remoteness, which is a blessing - how different from the paltry, shortsighted anticipations of a near future which delude us along the path of earthly effort! Surely, surely, this great and strange prerogative of humanity, the large discourse which looks before and after, was given to us for other purposes than that we should lavish and waste it upon fleeting things! But the most of us behave with that great faculty of anticipating and imagining the future as an astronomer might do, who, having in his possession a telescope fit to pierce the secrets of the skies, should prefer to turn it only upon the trivialities of earth. "Wherefore, hope perfectly for the grace that is being brought to you in the appearing of Jesus Christ."