My Daily Pause

A combination of some things have me thinking about my giving:

• I am planning my goals for the new year, which begins in less than 60 days!
• I am working on the church budget over my areas of responsibility
• I have been assigned to pray over the offering during services this month.

When we look at God’s instructions to the Israelites concerning their giving and charity, He expected a lot out them! Most people would answer the question “How much?” with 10%, but when we read deeper, the net amount was much more. Farmers couldn’t cut the corners of the field, glean the crops or even pick up what they had dropped. If it weren’t for that, Ruth would have never met Boaz. In fact if the Jews had totally followed the spirit of the law, their nation would never have wanted for anything.

In New Testament times, we don’t have exact amounts assigned to give, but we can see from the Jews example what God considers reasonable. There are also a number of adverbs used to describe what our giving is supposed to look like. I challenge us all to compare our giving to each of these passages:

• Liberally – Luke 6:38
• Sacrificially – Hebrews 13:16
• Cheerfully – 2 Corinthians 9:7
• Purposefully – 2 Corinthians 9:7
• Secretly – Matthew 6:3-4

There are always plenty of needs and more we can do. What can we do to stop money from being the reason we fall short?

Daily Bible reading for November 4

Psalm 95
2 Kings 4
Zechariah 8
John 1:19-51