“But if someone who is supposed to be a Christian has money enough to live well, and sees a brother in need, and won’t help him – how can God’s love be within him?”
—1 John 3:17 (TLB)
You know that the hardest thing for you to give up is your money. It represents your time, your energy, your talents, your total personality converted into currency. We usually hold on to it tenaciously, yet it is uncertain in value and we cannot take it into the next world. The Scripture teaches that we are stewards for a little while of all we earn. If we misuse it, as did the man who buried his talent, it brings upon us the severest judgment of God. The tithe is the Lord’s. If you use it for yourself, you are robbing God. We are to take the tithe as a standard, but to go beyond the tithe is an indication of our gratefulness for God’s gifts to us. In the midst of sorrow and trouble, this life has many blessings and enjoyments which have come from the hand of God. Even our capacity for love is a gift from God. We show our gratitude by giving back to Him a part of that which He has given to us.
Prayer for the day
Give me a generous heart, Father, that does not grudgingly give back to You all that is rightfully Yours.