At The “Heart” of Giving To God.

GOD WANTS YOUR LOVE FOR HIM!

Mark 12:33-34 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

If a man loves a woman then her love and admiration in return means more to him then all the money in Fort Knox or any bank. That is also I believe what God desires from his people who he madly loves and sent Christ to die for. There is no amount of money or sacrifice you can give to him that can replace love, trust, and obedience to him. He would rather your heart be large for him then all the sacrifices you can bring to him. If a sacrifice is an expression of love then it is worthy and if our acts of service are motivated by love then this is His delight.

However Robotic service and obligatory gifts given to him do not mean much-

2 Corinthians 9:7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

It’s pretty amazing that an all sustained self sufficient God would desire our love in return. God does not need anyone of us, but who is a God like the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who would even want to have a relationship with people so inclined to flee from him and rebel against him and shake their fist at him in rage because they do not know Him. God wants the heart more so then the “gift” or “sacrifice” and indeed he calls us to give to him but we must have our heart in it also. If he has blessed us so richly with life and many good things it is not to much to ask for grateful hearts and willingness to give back in certain ways 🙂

A God who is worth our best

Malachi 1:7-8 “By offering defiled food on my altar.“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.

Imagine if a man went out to eat with some of his guy friends and they ate the best ribs and when he came home he gave the box of bones with hardly any meat on them to his wife! Would she be happy? I highly doubt it. But how often do we do that to God Himself by setting aside the best and first parts of our money, time, and resources. Is God really wanting our money or time as much as he desires us? The woman who got the box of scraps could have probably cared less about the ribs but none the less she was insulted and probably thought “you think that is all I am worth? Your left overs?” We send the same message to the Lord when we neglect him.

Let us be intentional to give God what he truly is worthy of!