Are You Giving God Your Best?

Proverbs 3:9-10: "Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine."



What we do with our time, our money, and our abilities says much about our priorities and to whom we give ultimate allegiance. I love the passage in Exodus 23:16,20 for in it God essentially is saying, "Look, I am the giver of all things and I will protect you along the way of your future to my blessed Promised Land; now celebrate my blessing of life and material abundance by offering back to me the firstfruits of what I have given you." Did God need those things then, and does He need them now? I think that we all know the answer is a resounding, "NO!" God is the Creator of all things, and He is not in need of anything. What God knows in His infinite wisdom, is that our giving reflects our attitude about Him and our Faith in Him. If we recognize that (1) His love is better than anything life has to offer [Psalm 63:3]; (2) that He is the source of all blessings; and (3) that we can trust Him as our Protector and Sustainer in the future, then we will give back our very best to Him.



God is not interested in our leftovers. Leftovers suggest that we don't trust God or even worse that we expect that our desires be satisfied first. The first is a lack of faith, and the second is a statement of lordship. The former suggests that we're not certain that God is as Sovereign as He professes; the latter states that we want to be God ourselves.

Our purpose in life is not to attain vast amounts of wealth for ourselves or to expect that the world should revolve around us; rather, our purpose ultimately is to glorify God. We would do well to start this very day by giving back to God the firstfruits of our time and our wealth. Here are some practical questions that you might want to ask yourself to find out where you are in your commitment to the Lord: "Am I giving to the Lord the first of my day in prayer and study of His Word . . . or does He get a few minutes at the end of the day (if at all) when I'm physically spent from the events of the day? Am I tithing my material blessings back to the Lord as a celebration of His goodness to me, or am I holding out so that I can acquire more?"

You will never experience the blessedness of God's abundant life if you're holding out on Him. God knows best. Submit to Him and give to Him your very best.