GIVING WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY MAY 01, 2021.

SUBJECT : GIVING WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE!

Memory verse: "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you" (Luke 6 vs 38).

READ: Psalm 50 vs 7 - 15:

50 vs 7: Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you; I am God, your God! 

8: I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are continually before Me. 

9: I will not take a bull from your house, nor goats out of your folds. 

10: For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. 

11: I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beast of the field are Mine. 

12: "If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness. 

13: Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? 

14: Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.

15: Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.

INTIMATION:

The attitude with which you give, occasions the manner of your receiving. God demands the right attitude of devotion to Him in our services. The right attitude in giving ensures receiving rightly from God. When you give with a wrong attitude, or in a wrong manner, you receive nothing from God. For instance, the religious rituals of going to church, taking Communion, paying tithes, giving to charity, or to the church, are all empty if our motives of doing them are selfish. God doesn't want these sacrifices and offerings without an attitude of devotion to Him. 

Many believers participate in such religious activities enumerated above out of habit or conformity rather than out of heartfelt love and obedience to God. Some give to be recognized; be seen as a financial pillar in the church or ministry, or for self-actualization, not our of love, and obedient obligation to the LORD.

In our memory verse, we have seen that our receiving is tied to our giving. Note, most importantly, that the Scripture says, "the measure we use," not "the measure we give." Many people confuse the two statements. If we give in love, we receive in lovely manner, but if give in hate, or grudgingly, we receive in like manner. If we are critical rather than compassionate, we will also receive criticism. If we treat others generously, graciously, and compassionately, these qualities will come back to us in full measure. We are to love others, not judge them.

In the passage we read, God was saying to His chosen people that His disagreement with them wasn't about a lack of sacrifices on their part; they had been offering sacrifices continually. Israel was faithful in legally performing the sacrifices of the law. That was not God’s complaint against them. His complaint against them was the heart attitude they had in making offerings. They were not offering the sacrifices with a heart of obedient devotion and thanksgiving that give Him glory. They were going through the motions of making the offerings, but they weren't giving their hearts to God.

They thought they were making the sacrifices because God somehow needed their bulls and goats. In this Scripture, God was making it clear that He didn't need anything from them; everything already belongs to the Lord. God said, "If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you! The world is Mine, and everything in it." He doesn't need to ask anyone for food. The truth is that the Israelites needed those sacrifices; they needed to give back to God and show their trust and dependence upon Him. It wasn't for God, it is for them. The same is applicable to us today.

God doesn't need your giving today any more than He needed those Old Testament sacrifices. The point of your giving is for you to learn to recognize God as the source of all you have (John 3 vs 27). It is one thing to say you believe God is your source, but it is another thing to prove it. The way you prove to yourself, not God, that you believe God is your source, is to give a portion of what you have back to Him. Hence the reason for tithing. People who don't really see God as their source are going to balk at giving part of what they have away. But giving back some of what God has already given you is an act of devotion to Him, recognizing as your source.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my everything. All I have You have given me. I am nothing without You. You greatly love me and gave Your only Son for me, to die the death I ought to have died for my sins. Endue with with the spirit of love and full devotion to You, that I will receive in good measure from You, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!