A Proper Response

Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.

Proverbs 3:9-10

IMAGINE THIS: You don’t have a job. Your family has eaten macaroni and cheese five nights a week for the past month. Then a kindhearted friend shows up with a box full of food and a huge ham. He helps you and your wife prepare the feast, then joins your family at the table for a meal you’d never have had if not for him. After serving yourself the best part of everything, you put the rest away to save for tomorrow’s meal, then scrape what’s crusted to the sides of the dishes and serve that to your benefactor. That’s his portion—your “thank you” to him. Not a very gracious way to respond to such great generosity, is it?

Ridiculous, isn’t it? Rude, ungrateful, unthinkable. But is this a picture of how we thank God for all He has given us? We need to recognize that God is the source of all that we have. If not for His provision and grace, we would be in a state of physical and spiritual poverty without hope of a way out. Our response to His provision, then, should be to take pleasure in giving Him the choice portions of the “meal” He has given us. He created it, He gave it, and He deserves it. Let that be our heart in giving back to Him.

This mind-set doesn’t come all at once; and in the meantime, God is gracious and patient with us. Ask Him to increase your faith and show you ways to share your resources, time, and efforts.

BOTTOM LINE

Delight yourself in sharing all that God has freely given to you. Share it with Him and share it with others.

Moment of Strength: 2 Corinthians 8:7-12