“Our Daily Bread”   

http://odb.org/2012/12/10/which-way-2/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht

Exodus 30:14-15… Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.  (NKJV)

The opening scripture has the Lord speaking to Moses, giving him instructions to give to the Israelites, on how much they should each contribute towards the cost of operating the tabernacle of meeting…Exodus 30:16…

I believe the important point of this scripture, was that “Everyone” who should have been capable of giving (over the age of 20), was asked to give… To me, it seems the Lord was trying to instill the need to be obedient to His commands…  The Israelites were asked to tithe a percentage of all that they had…

Many people today still try and tithe 10 % of their gross pay (Numbers 18:26)…  This is a rule of thumb, so to speak…  But there is no where in the New Testament, which gives us a fixed percent that we should use to calculate the amount we should put in the offering plate at church each week…

Instead, scripture written by the Apostle Paul gives us some better understanding of how we as Christians are to give…2 Corinthians 9:7… So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.  (NKJV)

God knows exactly how much each and every one of us from a spare timeand from a monetary standpoint…  And I don’t believe God wants us to give an offering that will keep us from providing food, or the other necessities we need to live… This scripture clearly states what our motives should be for giving of our time, our money, or any of our other resources to our church, or any other person or charity…

We should never boast about how much we give (Matthew 6:1)… And we should never give an offering with a thought that it could have been used for something else; possibly something personal…  We should cheerfully give from the heart because we are urged to give, without expecting anything in return…

This reminds me of the poor widow Jesus speaks of in the Books of Mark and Luke…  She came to the Temple and threw two mites into the treasury box (Mark 12:42)…  Some research on what the value was of this small offering, indicates that it was the equivalent of about 9 minutes of work for the average laborer of the day (about ¼ of a cent in today’s money)…  But this was all of the money that the poor widow possessed…

Jesus saw what this poor woman had given, and used her generous heart to teach His disciples this, in…Mark 12:43-44…  So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; ⁴⁴ for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”  (NKJV)

There is much scripture teaching us that God will supply all the needs of His obedient children…Philippians 4:19… And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  (NKJV)

But not only does God want us to be a cheerful giver… The Apostle Paul goes on to write this, in…2 Corinthians 9:8… And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.  (NKJV)

God wants to bless His obedient children with everything they could possibly need; but God also expects us to use our abundance to help those that are less fortunate…  God isn’t going to bless us financially, if we take our abundance and stash it away for our own selfish purposes…

Heavenly Father, help all of Your children to understand that giving of their resources with a cheerful heart, and for the right reasons, will always be seen by You…  Help us Lord, to be constantly aware of those around us who could benefit from a kind word, a helping hand, or even financial support…if we have been blessed by You with all that we need… I pray Lord, that You would encourage us to give of our abundance with the right heart…in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

written by bruce r mills