Proverbs
3:9-10 (NIV)
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the
firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
The Hebrew word used here that is
translated into English as “honor” literally means “to be heavy” or
“weighty”. A secondary meaning is “to be
honored”. This is the same word used in
the fourth commandment to honor your father and mother. The word “honor” is a word to be dealt with,
just like anything in our lives that is heavy.
You make allowances for anything heavy, like needing special equipment
to lift something heavy. You cannot take
it for granted. The word for honor
conveys a great sense of importance; it is a thing of high value. To honor the Lord is to be in awe of Him, to
reverence or respect Him above everything else.
You are to
honor the Lord with your wealth just as you are to honor Him with your words,
actions, and thoughts. Somehow, honoring
Him with your wealth seems the most significant. Because if you don’t honor Him with your
wealth, you dishonor Him, there is no middle ground. God says in I Samuel 2:30 that “Those who
honor Me, I will honor”. In the movie
“Chariots of Fire” the Scottish sprinter, Eric Liddell, after learning that the
Paris Olympics 100 meter trials were scheduled on a Sunday, refused to complete because he believed in
the sanctity of the Lord’s Day. Despite
all the pressures from his superiors and the British press, he stuck to his
convictions. His other event, the
400-meter race, was one he was not favored to win. Yet just prior to that race, a competitor
gave him a piece of paper that read, “In the Old Book, it says, ‘He that honors
Me, I will honor”. Liddell won the
400-meter race.
You are to honor God with the first part of
your wealth. This means that when you
are paid, you set aside what you intend to give to God first before you spend
the rest of what you brought home.
Here are three main learning points about
tithing and giving:
1.
The
tithe is a starting point of generosity, not an arbitrary command.
2.
God
is to receive the first part, not the leftovers.
3.
What
you do with your money determines how much God can bless your life.
God says in Proverbs 3:10 that honoring Him
with your giving and your giving to Him has first priority in how you use your
wealth will result in Him returning immeasurable blessings to you that indeed
could be more wealth. However, your
motive in giving to God is not to expect great rewards in return, but simply
having the peace of heart and mind that you are being obedient in honoring
Him. Yet, God will indeed bless you
beyond what you can imagine if your heart’s intent is to honor Him with your
wealth and with your life. Anyone who
has done this can testify to this truth.
Are you one of those testifiers?
If not, may you decide now to take to heart the truths of Proverbs
3:9-10 and see what happens to your life.
Yet, like the example of Eric Liddell, there will be forces and others
in your life who will criticize you and challenge you for your desire to be
obedient to Him. You must persevere and
you will be rewarded.
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