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Psalm 96:^7-9 “O nations of the world, recognize the Lord; recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong. Give to the Lord the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in all his holy splendour. Let all the earth tremble before him.”

Do you know that the average American CEO reads at least sixty books in one year? When I came across this statistic, I was shocked. How many books do you read in a year? You and I must be deliberate about reading and growing. CEOs have control of their time and this gives them the advantage. However, everyone can gain better control of their time to get more out of each day. If you make reading a priority, you will find a way to make it happen. Yesterday, we talked about Michael Eisner, the former CEO of Disney world, who at the end of his career admitted that he should have given more focus to building God’s Kingdom also. What if he had been volunteering at Saddleback, serving as an usher in church while God was promoting him? CEOs have control of their time so they can tweak their time; you can tweak your time to serve your Maker.

We can show our gratitude to God by singing from our hearts, by telling others the good news, and by serving with the abilities He has given us. The fourth way to show our gratitude to God is By Giving An Offering Back To God. Ps. 50:¹⁴ “Give an offering to show your thanks to God. Give him what you promised.” (NCV, emphasis added). It is called thanksgiving because ‘Thanks’ and ‘Giving’ go together. If you are serious about thanking God, then you must take every opportunity to ‘thank’ and ‘give’ seriously because your giving is unto the Lord. Deut.16:¹⁰ “and then celebrate the Harvest Festival, to honour the LORD your God, by bringing him a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing he has given you.” (GNB, emphasis added). The question is, how has God blessed you in your life? If He has blessed you a lot, God is saying, you have to give in proportion, you have to give a lot. If He blessed you a little, God is saying, give a little.

If he has not blessed you at all, in proportion means you give nothing. God is not upset; if He has not blessed you, why should He expect anything? However, God says we are to give in proportion to what we have received. I introspect a lot; when things happen to me, I usually check my life and try to adjust myself. A lot of people do not stop to consider how much they spend on things like ice-cream or pizza, for example. They just want it and they go out and get it. Do not get me wrong, these things are really enjoyable. However, a reflection question for me would be, how much do I give to God as my offering in church compared to how much I spend on ice-cream for instance? I want to encourage you to do this as well. By God’s grace, my giving is much more than what I spend on pleasures like ice-cream. We do a lot of unnecessary spending. Who says you have to eat ice cream, where is it written? Those are the perks of life but for some, the ice-cream you are eating is more than the offering you are giving. Something is wrong with that. We need to adjust our giving in proportion to how God has blessed us.

Prayer: Father, I ask for the grace to serve and give consistently, in Jesus Name. Amen!