Hi everyone,
Sharing a devotional with you from 1 Kings 5:1-12 – Relational Building Through Generosity
What stood out for me would be the importance of having a good established relationship with your neighbours. Solomon was wise. In order to have a strong relationship with Hiram, even though Solomon was well established and had a strong nation, he approached Hiram by praising his woodcutters to be even better than his. Obviously Solomon needed wood to build the Temple of God. So he approached Hiram with respect and humility. Not only that, he was generous by providing more than enough food as a trade off. In addition to all of that, he even gave Hiram a ton of olive oil as a bonus. Solomon gave more than what Hiram had asked for. Their relations were well established because of how generous Solomon was. We can learn a lot from Solomon here. It’s really difficult to dislike or even hate a generous person. We can learn to do the same with the people around us to establish stronger relationships with them so that somewhere along the way, not only can we help one another, but to be able to share the gospel of Christ when their hearts are opened to us. Let us be generous people because of Father in heaven is a generous God.
Blessings,
Kelsey