How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality, 2nd Corinthians 8:2.
One of the grievous tenets of our day is the confounding of bible words until they lose their meaning. In the bible a liberal is a good thing to be yet when we look into the matter, to be a liberal in the bible is quite different from being a liberal in today's society. To be liberal in the bible is to be generous and free with those earthly goods given to us by God. To be liberal in today's society necessitates disagreement with a literal bible and a desire to see charitable giving lifted from off the voluntary shoulders of the populace and laid at the feet of the government.
We are promised that; The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself, Proverbs 11:25. There is a bible blessing to that person who out of his lack and out of his tight budget finds a way to give. About ten years ago, a kindly man from a neighboring church helped me wire speakers in our sanctuary. I was conducting a bible study as he walked back and forth through the room as he carried tools and supplies. He motioned to me to slip out. He had something to tell me.
He pointed to a couple sitting in the study and solemnly warned me that they had used up their quotient of pity and charity with every church in the county. They were not welcome anywhere. I laughed and told him not to worry. They had ceased being sponges soaking up whatever handouts they could get. They had learned to give. In the intervening years they have become major givers in the church and have in fact given themselves to the Lord. We have a number of people who have made that transition.
From time to time one of them will complain that times are still hard. I point out that years ago they struggled to make ends meet while living in substandard housing, driving junk cars and having threadbare clothing. They still find times when money is tight and they need God's help to pay the bills but they now are doing so from a much higher plain in life. They have better housing, better cars and good clothing. Their liberal souls have been made fat.
Our present day use of the word "liberal" to describe those who champion abortion, redistribute other people's earnings and erase God from our culture is a grief to God. Our bible promises us a day in which; The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful, Isaiah 32:5. The good word "liberal" has been hijacked by those who do more to extend poverty than any other group of people on earth. The more a country is run by modern day churls posing as liberals, the poorer the poor become. For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail, Isaiah 32:6.