Are You Honoring God with Your Wealth?
Here's why it shows your thankfulness to God.
Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. (Proverbs 3:9-10)
Right after a section where Solomon discusses trusting in the Lord with all your heart, he then moves into practical application - and applies it to our wealth.
God commanded the children of Israel to give Him the “firstfruits” of the land of Canaan when He brought them into the land from Egypt.
When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there.
And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’
Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 26:1-4)
God promised to bless them if they obeyed Him and remembered to trust Him and thank Him (Deuteronomy 28:1-13).
What about us?
Paul encouraged the church at Corinth to be generous in their giving to people going through a difficult time.
He reminded them of the great love Jesus had for them and how much He had given up for them.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)
He reminded them that “God loves a cheerful giver.”
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)
For the children of Israel, God desired that they give from a thankful heart.
For Christians, God desires that we give from a thankful heart for all that Jesus has done for us - how much He sacrificed for us.
By honoring God with your wealth, you demonstrate your thankfulness “to God for his inexpressible gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15).
God has done so much for us - what a blessing that we can show our thankfulness to Him!