Deuteronomy 14-16
How do we handle money? With generosity.
First we are generous to God and His work. The Levites are to be supported by the tithes which are brought to them. And the aliens, the orphans, and the widows are supplied by these offerings.
Yet that’s not all. We are to open our hands with liberality to the poor. We spoke earlier about the fields which were not to be harvested in full. Gleanings were to be left so that the poor could come and harvest the last vestiges. Now we see that if a poor brother comes to us, we shall freely open our hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.
Money is a frequent subject, not only in the Old Testament, but also in the New. Of course, there are the needs of God’s work being accomplished and of the poor. But there is more than that.
The devil rules his world by money. If there were no money involved, there would be no drug dealers, or prostitutes, or thieves. When you stop and think about it, greed is the source of most of the evil in the world.
God wants that greed to be stomped out of our lives. He wants us to be free from that control.
When we obediently release our hard-earned finances to Him and others, we are defeating this temptation. The devil can’t control us by greed when we are generous.
Neither can he control our finances when we are operating in Kingdom principles. When we tithe and give, we set ourselves on a higher plane. We are operating in God’s realm, and we will reap if we faint not. Satan can’t stop us.
What a man sows, that shall he also reap!
Mark 12:28-48
Speaking of money, isn’t it interesting that Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and watched people give their offerings?
What was He observing? Amounts, of course, but mostly attitudes.
Many rich people were putting in large sums, but the poor widow came and put in two copper coins. Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, this widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury.”
How could He say that, when the rich people gave large sums? He could say that because the poor widow gave all that she had. It was her attitude. She was desirous to give, and she gave with her whole heart. The rich people gave large sums, but they gave out of their surplus. They didn’t even miss their offerings.
Our money is tied to our hearts, and God wants our hearts. Don’t get me wrong. He wants the money also, because ministry costs money to operate, bu the most important thing to our Father is our heart. When we are generous in our giving to Him, He has our hearts.
One more thing. When our giving is to show off, so that men will hold us in high esteem, we have our reward in full. We are to give to our Father, without making a big display, knowing that He rewards us.
Over the years, there have been times when the Lord would prompt us to give anonymously, so that not even the one receiving the gift knew where it was coming from. That was fun! We would be able to see the joy on their faces, knowing that they knew the gift was really prompted by Holy Spirit.
Bring me more, Lord, so I can give more!
