God’s Word Is Alive

Generosity Brings Blessings

THE scene is an upstairs room somewhere in Joppa, a city on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The woman lying on the bed had become sick and had died. She was a first-century Christian disciple named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. When Dorcas died, two messengers were sent to the nearby city of Lydda to bring the apostle Peter here.

When Peter was led to the upstairs room, he found women weeping. They loved Dorcas because of her many kind deeds. They are showing Peter the clothes that she had made for them. As a Christian disciple, Dorcas also must have been very active in telling others about God’s kingdom. But what could Peter do for her now that she was dead?

The first thing Peter did was to put everybody outside. Then, after kneeling and praying, he turned to the body and said: “Tabitha, rise!” At that, as you can see, she opens her eyes. She comes to life! Then Peter helped her up.

At that, Peter called the others in. You can just imagine how they must have been beside themselves with joy when they saw Dorcas up and alive! Truly, what a marvelous blessing to be raised from the dead!​—Acts 9:36-42.

We can learn a lesson from this. It illustrates that the person who seeks to help others​—giving generously of his time, energies and abilities—​will be richly rewarded. In this case, not only did these women love Dorcas for her kind deeds, but so did Jehovah God. That is why he gave Peter the power to raise her from the dead.

So, then, learn well this lesson: If you are generous toward others, you will be remembered with their love. Furthermore, generosity is one of the important qualities you need in order to be remembered by God. And he can reward you with life​—everlasting life in his righteous new order.​—Prov. 11:25; 1 John 2:17.