Hi there, and welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading titled Rich and Good Deeds was written by Karen Pimpo.

After seven decades of hard work as a washerwoman, scrubbing, drying, and pressing clothes by hand,

Osceola McCarty was finally ready to retire at the age of 86.

She had scrupulously saved her meager earnings all those years.

And to the amazement of her community,

Osceola donated $150,000 to the nearby university to create a scholarship fund for needy students.

Inspired by her selfless gift, hundreds of people donated enough to triple her endowment.

Osceola understood the true value of her wealth was not in using it for her own gain, but to bless others.

The Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy to command those who are rich in this present world

to be rich in good deeds. Each of us have been given wealth to steward, whether it's in the

form of financial means or other resources. Instead of trusting in our resources,

Paul cautions us to put our hope only in God and to lay up treasure in heaven by being generous and willing to share.

In God's economy, withholding and not being generous only leads to emptiness.

Giving to others out of love is the way to fulfillment.

To have both godliness and contentment with what we have

instead of striving for more is great gain.

What would it look like for us to be generous with our resources

as Asiola was?

Let us strive to be rich in good deeds today, as God leads us.

Today's Our Daily Bread Devotional Scripture reading is from 1 Timothy chapter 6,

verses 6 through 10 and 17 through 19.

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