Giving to God
It was once said that the wallet is the "last frontier"-- that it’s the last thing that comes to God in surrender. But it should be the first, along with our surrendered heart. Jesus spoke much about money. He said that we cannot serve God and mammon (see Matthew 6:24). The word "mammon" was the common Aramaic word for riches and it signifies "that which is to be trusted." In other words, either money is our source of joy, our sense of security, the supplier of our needs -- or God is.
When you give, make sure you do so with a cheerful heart. Our giving should be a systematic and purposeful giving to the church where we fellowship (see 2 Corinthians 9:7). It should be in response to need (see Acts 11: 27-29). It should be sacrificial (see Galatians 2:10), and should be done in secret with a humble heart (see Matthew 6:1-4). It is a key to spiritual fruit (see Luke 16:10-11).
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John Johnson, 09/03/2011 |
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