READING: 1 Chronicles 27-29, Acts 2:1-36
Every month, Pam and I give our offering to God’s church. We’re grateful for the opportunity, and we love giving to reach our neighbors and the nations. I’m not sure, though, that we think often enough about God’s grace in that whole event of giving.
David understood that grace, however, as the king called his people to build the Temple under the leadership of his son, Solomon. The people not only gave, but they also gave “freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord” (1 Chron 29:9). What David best understood was that the people deserved no honor for their giving; instead, he asked, “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this?” (1 Chron 29:14). Whatever we give, we give it because God first graciously gave it to us. It has always been His, and we’re blessed with the privilege to return it to Him: “Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” (1 Chron 29:14).
That’s the part I don’t think we consider enough. We love giving out of our funds, but we forget that they’re all really God’s funds in the first place. We think we earn our money by our work, but it’s really just God’s blessings of earned wages. He who grants us a job can remove that same job from us in a heartbeat—and He alone gets the glory for (and by) our giving.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to give back to you abundantly and willingly.”
TOMORROW’S READING: 2 Chronicles 1-5, Acts 2:37-3:10