Giving His Gifts Back

Readings:
I Chronicles 29
Acts 15:12-35

Focus:
I Chronicles 29:14: "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give willingly like this? For everything comes from you, and it is only of your gifts that we give to you."

In praying before the assembled Israelites, King David utters a great truth, one that is easy to forget: everything that we have comes from God, and so when we give to him, we are only giving back what he gave us to begin with. It makes no sense, therefore, to clutch it to ourselves and be unwilling to give.

When I was a young girl, my grandmother told me that if I always tithed (gave 10% to the church), I would never be sorry. In Malachi 3:10a it says, "Put me to the proof, says the Lord of Hosts, and see if I do not open windows in the sky and pour a blessing on you as long as there is need."

God gives us things so that we will use them for him. In return, he will give us what we need. I have always found that to be true; my grandmother was right. All things come from God, and it is only his gifts that we give back to him.