Proverbs 3:27,28,  Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.

God loves justice and God expects his children to love justice.

Why would a person withhold good from another person when he has within his power the resources to do good for that person?

This is not a matter of charity or gift giving here.

This is not a matter of choice here.

This is not a matter of giving for no service rendered or nothing due.

This is a matter of a debt owed to whom it is due, and not paid when it is within the power to pay.

Sounds like it could be a desire on the part of the debtor to hold power over the one owed the debt.

Or it could be just the fruit of selfishness or carelessness.

Telling someone to go and come again is a cover for selfishness.

There may be a secret hope that the matter will be forgotten, dropped, or taken up by some other person.

Someone else will solve the problem, someone else will pay.

We have the solution, we have the money, we can solve the problem but this particular time does not suit our convenience.

But this is the time of need! Not tomorrow!

Paul tells us to be ready to every good work.

Be ready to meet the needs of others.

Seize the opportunity, it will not be around long. God will seek others to do good for him if you don't respond.

This dishonesty of withholding good when we have the power to do it comes in many forms.

One form of this dishonesty is borrowing without re-payment,

God calls those who do this wicked, as we see in:

Psalm 37:21,  The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous showeth mercy, and giveth.

Another form is in evading taxes, Jesus paid taxes even when he did not have to.

Matthew 17:24,  And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?

Matthew 17:25,  He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?

Matthew 17:26,  Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.

Matthew 17:27,  Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

Jesus did not withhold taxes. It was in his power to pay the tax and he did so as not to offend the authorities.

What a lesson for many Christians who think they are outside the authorities and rebel against the tax.

A third form of this dishonesty is keeping back the laborers hire,

James 5:4,  Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth:

Leviticus 19:13,  Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.

Jeremiah 22:13,  Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;

Another form is in the withholding of love from those that we are obligated to love, those to whom our love is their due.

Romans 13:8,  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

Romans 12:10,  Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

Romans 13:9,  Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Galatians 5:13,  by love serve one another.

Colossians 3:19,  Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Ephesians 5:33,  and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Titus 2:4,  That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

Philippians 2:2,  Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

1 Thessalonians 5:12,  And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;

1 Thessalonians 5:13,  And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.

God tells us our neighbors and our loved ones are the real owners of our good.

Love and kindness is not an option, but it is our obligation. It is a debt to God and man.

What about:

Withholding discipline and training from your children.

Isn't this part of being a good steward of the children that God has given you?

Don't you owe God that much.

Hasn't he given you the power to do right by your children?

For you preachers:

What about withholding the preaching of the whole counsel of God.

Don't you owe this to the sheep?

Withholding words of encouragement. Is not this an obligation if we are here in Christ's stead?

Don't we owe our best to our employer and we so often give him "just get by work"?

Proverbs 3:27,28,  Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.

Now this proverbs father talks to his son about being afraid of parting with that which God has given him .

This is instruction concerning the keeping of that which belongs to another for one more day when you ought to give it to the one to whom it is due.

Son, God loves justice and God expects his children to love justice.

Justice is executed when good is done to whom it is due and not withheld for anytime when God has given into your hand the ability to do good for another.

Justice delayed is injustice!

Why would a person withhold good from another person when God has given him the resources to do good for that person?

If we defer payment until later, we are guilty of injustice; for a man has the same right to his property today that he will tomorrow.

This is not a matter of charity or gift giving here.

This is not a matter of choice here.

This is not a matter of giving without commensurate service rendered or for nothing due.

This is a matter of a debt owed to whom it is due, and not paid when it is within the power to pay.

This is keeping something that you are no longer the steward of.

God is now giving that something to another to be the steward of because that person has earned the right.

Perhaps this keeping occurs because of a desire on the part of the debtor to hold power over the one owed the debt.

Or it could be just the fruit of selfishness or carelessness.

It certainly is faithlessness for that which is withheld belongs to God and now it is to be given to another.

Telling someone to go and come again may be a cover for selfishness and dishonesty.

There may be a secret hope that the matter will be forgotten, dropped, or taken up by some other person.

Someone else will solve the problem, someone else will pay.

We have the solution, we have the money or the goods, we can solve the problem but this particular time does not suit our convenience.

So to suit our convenience we make it inconvenient for the one owed.

But today is the time of need! Not tomorrow!

What is in the power of our hands today we may not have tommorow so we ought not delay in the doing of what is due.

Paul tells us to be ready to every good work.

Be ready to pay the debt.

Christians should not withhold payment of a debt in order to get a few more cents interest on their account.

If the debt is owed and you have the money pay the debt promptly.

Paying a debt is to be done cheerfully but delays in paying indicate the contrary.

We are to be ready to every good work cheerfully.

This dishonesty of withholding good when we have the power to do it comes in many forms.

One form of this dishonesty is borrowing without re-payment,

God calls those who do this, wicked, as we see in:

Psalm 37:21, The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous showeth mercy, and giveth.

This includes borrowing little things.

Tools come to mind that sit in the garage until you're good and ready to return them.

Books are another.

Aren't you finished with the book and don't you have it in your power to return it?

Another form is in evading taxes, Jesus paid taxes even when he did not have to for his word says in Romans 13:7,  Render therefore to all their dues: tribute (or taxes) to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

Matthew tells us of this event in Mat 17:24-27,  And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

Jesus did not withhold taxes.

It was in his power to pay the tax and he did so as not to offend the authorities.

He bent over backwards not to offend the authorities in areas where they lawfully had the authority.

What a lesson for many Christians who think they are outside the authorities and rebel against the tax and make sure they offend the authorities when ever they have opportunity.

The lesson of Jesus Christ is that we are to make sure we do not offend those that God has put over us.

God honors authority and that includes those who have authority to collect taxes.

A third form of this dishonesty is keeping back the labourers hire,

James 5:4,  Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth:

Leviticus 19:13,  Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.

Keep short accounts.

If you intend to pay for services rendered another day be sure that is known when the contract is made.

If you hire a young person to do yard work pay that debt when the work is finished unless agreed to otherwise.

Don't make him or her come back if it is in your power to pay the wage.

If we pay him or her speedily we give twice for we keep the laborer from worrying or being concerned about not being paid.

We pay in money and we pay in peace of mind.

But if we give reluctantly in effect we pay less than what is coming for we certainly will hinder the gratitude of the laborer.

We may be contributing to ingratitude.

Jeremiah 22:13,  Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;

Proverbs 3:27,28,  Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.

Another example of this proverb is seen in the withholding of love from those that we are obligated to love, those to whom our love is their due.

For in Romans 13:8 we are told to:

Isn't it within my power to love you?

God tells me that I owe you love.

Therefore I ought not withhold my love if I claim to love God and believe his word.

This is not hidden in God's word!

Romans 12:10,  Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

Romans 13:9,  Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Galatians 5:13,  by love serve one another.

Colossians 3:19,  Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Ephesians 5:33,  and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Titus 2:4,  That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

Phillipians 2:2,  Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

I Thessalonians 5:12,13,  And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.

We have a debt to those who labor among us and to those who are over us in the Lord.

We are to not to withhold our love to these for by the grace of God it is within our power to give our love.

God tells us our neighbors and our loved ones are the real owners of our good.

Love and kindness is not an option, but it is our obligation.

It is a debt to God and man.

What about:

Withholding discipline and training from your children.

Isn't this part of being a good steward of the children that God has given you?

Don't you owe God that much.

Hasn't he given you the power to do right by your children?

Good is due them and God expects you to pay them that which he has given you.

Don't you have authority to meet their need?

Several years ago I gave several of my proverbs lessons concerning the rearing of children to a woman at work who was a new mother.

She was telling me how difficult it was for her to deal with her young son.

I gave her Biblical advice and provided her with written expounding of God's word in Proverbs.

I did not withhold good from her because it was in the power of my hand to do so.

I did not expect much to come from this because I knew she had modern child rearing ideas but I gave her the light of the word anyway.

As is usually the case she gave me no feedback regarding my spoken and written advice.

She soon left work to stay at home to be with her two young boys.

I recently saw her with the boys and immediately saw where her modern ideas had brought her.

The oldest one, now five years old, was already sullen and disobedient and weak.

It was easy to see the boy was not a happy boy.

This mother instead of enjoying her children rejected the word of God and chose her own way apart from the word of God.

The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.

You have the liberty to choose how to rear your children but the results are not up to you.

You may choose to withhold good as defined in the word of God when God has given your hand the power to do good for your child.

Rearing children is a one time shot.

Its not like target practice where you are able to shoot many times at the target.

Child rearing is about hitting the bulls eye the first time.

And only by believing the word of God can the bulls eye be hit every time.

What about preachers who withhold the preaching of the whole counsel of God.

Don't preachers owe this to the sheep?

Withholding words of reproof, rebuke and exhortation when it is fully within their power to do so!

God will not hinder their hand, God will encourage their hand.

Withholding encouragement when encouragement is within their power to give.

Is not this an obligation if we are here in Christ's stead?

What about employees who withhold their best and just give to their employer "just get by work"?

Isn't it within our power to do our best?

Say not to him I'll do better tomorrow when it is within your power to do your best today.

Can you be sure that you'll have a tomorrow to do your best.

Better not presume upon God for a tomorrow when he has given you a today to do your best.

This father continues to instruct his son in important principles as he says in:  Go to Proverbs 3:29