READ: Proverbs 3.9-10 NLT
'Honour 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.'
If you have ever supported a charity by getting involved in a door-to-door collection you will, I am sure, have gained deep insights into the different way in which people give their money. A few people just aren’t interested and shut the door quickly. Others are clearly eager to get rid of you but are overwhelmed by a desire to be polite and so grab some loose change and quickly pop it in your collecting box. And others thank you for going to the trouble of visiting and joyfully make a contribution. There are many different ways of giving, and here the writer encourages us to give God the best.
It was King David who pointed out that when we give to God all we are doing is giving what he first gave to us. We would never be able to outgive God. It has been wisely said that you make a life out of what you give, not out of what you get, and in our deeply acquisitive society that is a very important insight. Learning how to give is vital if we are to learn to live our lives to the full, and know the blessings that God wants us to experience.
I love the straightforwardness of Proverbs. He has a no-nonsense approach to serving God. He tells us how to live our lives to the full, but also tells us the outcome. He has learnt that if you give generously and put God first in your life, then there will be a wonderful result. It will work differently for us all but we can be confident that if we get our giving right then God will bless us. The fact is that you will never become poor by giving generously.



QUESTIONS: How generous are you in your giving?
PRAYER: Lord God our Father, you have always been generous to me. Help me to learn how to be generous in every aspect of my life. Amen

Released on 18 Apr 2021