People Need to Give

Several months ago, my son Andrew and I were reading from the book of Proverbs before he left for school. As we read Chapter 3, there were two verses of scripture that literally jumped off the page and into my face. Those two verses are 9 and 10. For the writer says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” “Honor the Lord,” the writer says. It occurred to me that there are many ways that people can honor the Lord, but in this passage, the writer says to “Honor the Lord with our wealth.” What does this mean? I believe that when Christians understand the right use of all of the assets God has entrusted to us, including money, and then use the money in an honorable way, this wealth becomes a means whereby we can, in fact, honor the Lord.

How does the writer tell his readers to honor the Lord with their wealth? He says, “…through the first fruits of all your crops.” In Exodus 23:19 Moses said, “Bring the best (and notice he says best) of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.” Now what were the Israelites suppose to do with all of these items once they brought them to the temple? God made it very clear in Numbers 18 that the first fruits were for the Levites, the priestly tribe. The deal was that all the tribes would bring in their first fruits, give them to the Levites, the people who served in the temple, and that was the way the Levites would obtain physical nourishment. Now the Levites needed the first fruits, wouldn't you agree? They had no other means of income. Beyond the Levites needing the first fruits for survival, I believe that the people who gave the first fruits also needed to give them. You see, people need to give. God knew that. Therefore, the Israelites who had the farms needed to give a portion to the Lord, lest they get the idea that they did it all on their own. It was a way for the Israelites to remind themselves that it all came from God, and so they were called to give some of it back to God. Yes, people need to give.

In the same spirit as the Israelites, when we bring our offering to church, we are in a sense, giving it to God. I believe it is important that we understand that God has given us wealth, and we have a responsibility to honor Him with our wealth. Wealth can be either good for us, or bad for us. It can draw us closer to God or it can cause us to fall away from God; it all depends on how we use it. I think John Wesley had an interesting perspective on wealth when he said, "Make all the money you can, save all the money you can, and give all the money you can." I think that is what God wants us to do.

Another way to honor God with your wealth is to share it with people who are really in need. As we read the Old Testament law, we find provision after provision where God was concerned for the needs of the poor. When we read the New Testament, we find that Jesus was constantly expressing concern and compassion for the poor.

We also honor God with our wealth when we properly manage the money we keep for ourselves. If we’re going to be good managers of our money there are at least three temptations that we're going to have to deal with everyday, the first being impulsive spending. This is very difficult to do since we live in a society that constantly bombards us with advertisements for things we truly can't afford and, in many cases, truly don't need. The second temptation is the urge to plunge into debt. Proverbs has so much to say about this subject. Today with all of the creative financing solutions, everything looks so easy, yet later the debt reality sets in, the money is short and tempers get even shorter. Debt is so easy to get into, but getting out of debt is very difficult.

There's a third temptation regarding the managing of our money, and that is the temptation to get rich quick. Today, in America, it is estimated that there are over 55 million people who actively play the lottery. That's one-fifth of all U.S. citizens. Did you realize what the odds are if you play the lottery? The odds are only one in every 13.8 million that you will win. The fact is, for many who start out playing the lottery for fun, they end up destroying their lives and that of their family. As Christians, we cannot condone letting personal indebted-ness dominate our culture; it's a by-product of a get rich quick mentality that menaces the American soul.

So we see these are some ways in which we can honor God with our wealth, and I am sure there are many more. But what is truly exciting about Proverbs 3:9-10 is the promise that it contains. Look at the text again “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of your crops; (then, here is the promise), then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” What I believe Solomon was saying is that if you honor God with your wealth, you will have made a sound investment, and God will abundantly bless you for it.

S. Teunis

We give Thee but Thine own,

Whate’er the gift may be;

All that we have is Thine alone,

A trust, O Lord, from Thee.