Excel in Giving I

‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also’ Matt.6:21 [KJV]

The second reason why God wants you to excel in giving is giving draws you closer to God [Matt.6:21]. Your money, the Bible says, is a magnet of your heart. Wherever your money is, it magnetizes your heart to that place also. If your money is in your material possessions, guess where your heart will be? A man once said to me that he has a wristwatch valued at $250,000. While there is nothing wrong with that or liking expensive things just make sure you have more than that in heaven because where your treasure is there your heart will be also. God does not really want our money; God wants us. That father did not really want the son’s potato chips; the father just wanted to eat, fellowship, commune, connect, and bond with his son. When God is placing a demand on us it is because God wants to derive pleasure from us. As God’s favourite people our objective is for God to derive the most pleasure from us.

The third reason why God wants you to excel in giving is giving breaks the grip of materialism over your life. The only thing that can break the grip of materialism is giving. ‘No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money’ Matt. 6:24. So the more we give, particularly to the work of God, the more the hold of materialism over our hearts break. It is important to know also that the more God wants to break the grip of materialism over our lives, the more God stretches our giving.

Fourthly, giving is a test of my maturity. One way that God tests our maturity is through our finances. We spend most of our time working for money, saving money, investing money, thinking about money, and spending money. So God will go to your money because God knows that being in control of that money means being in charge of the life. Most people have exchanged their lives for money.

Prayer [song]:  ‘I surrender all (2x). All to Thee my blessed Saviour, I surrender all’. Lord I surrender all that I have, if I have anything at all, to You in Jesus Name.