Devotions based on week 12 of Joy in the Journey: Generosity (WATCH HERE)
Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Generosity trusts God to meet all your needs!
God is always after the heart.
More than other areas of the Christian life, generosity can challenge our heart. Especially it reveals to what extent we trust the Lord.
For the history of God’s people, giving to the Lord the first 10% (tithe) was directed as the baseline for a relationship that trusted the Lord to provide with the other 90% of their resources. Part of this giving was bringing the “firstfruits,” the first part of the harvest to the temple as an offering because it fostered a heart that trusted the Lord would provide additional harvest to meet one’s needs.
All too often as we plan our giving, WE take care of our needs first. We pay the bills, take a vacation, buy a new toy, or add on to the house. At the end of the month if we have all the bills paid, we will throw a few dollars in the offering plate. If we have more month than money, well, a gift to the Lord can wait until we have all our needs taken care of.
And often they never are because we are relying on ourselves to take care of our needs.
We, like the people of Malachi’s time need to be confronted, not because we are “shorting God” but because our hearts are short of God.
Malachi 3:6 “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me.
The lack of giving was indicative of a heart that lacked the Lord. The Lord hasn’t changed. His promises of provision, grace and love were and are always constant. But the hearts of the people, our hearts can drift away from him. As a result we spend on our needs and “rob God” of the honor and offerings he is due.
Let me be bold. The lack of giving and generosity is a sin when it is a reflection of a heart that lacks the ability to trust the Lord and put him first in ALL areas of life, including our finances.
So what was the answer? The prophet Malachi continues:
Malachi 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.
This is a wonderful promise from the Lord. It is intended to help us see the emptiness of pursuing our needs first and rather pursuing the Lord first. It helps us see that the LORD WILL provide all our needs…abundantly! The Lord challenges us to trust and promises he will provide.
The tithe was the baseline. Generosity was above the tithe.
As we end this week on generosity, repent of where your heart has lacked trust. In faith and with the certainty of God’s promises, let your heart grow in its trust of the Lord and in response bring in the whole tithe and more…and see that God can completely be trusted as HE provides for all your needs.
To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Apply: Where is your heart lacking trust in regard to your finances and giving? What part of the Malachi and Philippians passage resonate with you to respond to God’s goodness with generosity?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for calling out my heart and its lack of trust in you. Forgive me. Empower me by your Spirit to know and trust your promises to provide. Let my giving to you through my local church reflect my heart which trusts you in all things, especially my finances. AMEN.
If the LORD is moving you to give to support this ministry of Crosspoint or you are a regular attender at Crosspoint and you’d like to set up regular giving to the Lord, CLICK THIS LINK! To God be the glory!