Honoring God
Proverbs 3:9-10
God promises that as you honor Him through giving, He will honor you through blessings.
Many people in our world pride themselves on helping the helpless, and many times that is proven during natural disasters. After the events of September 11, 2001, many people used vacation time to travel to New York City and help through recovery, search and rescue, clean-up, and counseling those who were affected. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, the same response happened. People gave of their time, possessions, expertise, and resources to help those affected by the tragedy. More recently the devastating earthquake in Haiti has seen people from all over the world seeking to help. Within days after the catastrophe, people flew to Haiti to help with the repair. One charity noted that within twenty-four hours of setting up a donate-by-text service, they saw over one million dollars donated to help Haiti. Even former Presidents Clinton and Bush teamed up to address the needs of one of the world's poorest countries.
Throughout history the people of our world have shown that when others are hurting, they want to be involved in helping. While we certainly can be proud about the helpful attitude displayed after tragedies, recently released studies on the annual charitable giving of Americans is revealing. We pride ourselves on being ready to help, yet the average American doesn't help until something goes wrong.
Time Magazine once conducted a state-by-state study on charitable giving in America. The study found that Mississippi (the forty-ninth poorest state) was the second most charitable state with an average annual donation of $4,070 per family. On the other hand, Massachusetts (the fourth richest state) was the forty-ninth ranked state in charitable donations, averaging $2,645 per family.
As is shown in the study, giving isn't always a result of wealth. Giving is a result of a heart condition, a sensitivity to others, and many times a submission to God's command seen in Proverbs 3:9, "Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase." How can we honor the Lord? Notice two ways today.
We honor God through our tithe. The phrase "firstfruits of all thine increase" refers to our tithe, which means a tenth. God desires that as He blesses us we would turn around and honor Him by giving back one tenth of what He gives us. Leviticus 27:30 explains it this way, "And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's: it is holy unto the LORD."
Tithing is not giving; it is bringing. It isn't giving God what He does not already require. Nothing we have is of ourselves. If we have a job, it is from God. If we receive a bonus, God gave it to us. If we see our needs provided, it has come from God. All we have is given to us from God, so to honor Him, He asks that we give Him-through His local church-a tenth of what we receive.
We honor God through our offerings. While God requires a tenth of what we receive, He also desires offerings above and beyond our tithe. We tithe out of obedience, but we give out of love. Each chance we get, we should be willing to give to God's work through His church. We can honor God and show Him our love by giving above what He's asked us to give.
Obeying God's command of tithing and also giving more out of love will take faith, but God promises that as you honor Him through giving, He will honor you through blessings. Don't focus on what looks feasible on paper, but trust God and obey His command. Honor God by giving back to Him what He has given to you.
Daily Bible Reading
1 Samuel 4-6 | Luke 9:1-17
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