Giving Back to God

“For God so loved the world that he gave. . .”

-John 3:16

One of the greatest ways that we can show someone our love is when we give. This is an extremely important aspect of our relationship with God, and is one of the many ways that we can worship Him. Many people become vexed when churches talk about money, but the truth of the matter is that the Bible speaks often about money. Consider the following statistics:

Jesus talked a great deal about money. Sixteen of the thirty-eight parables were concerned with how to handle money and possessions. In the Gospels, an amazing one out of 10 verses (288 in all) deal directly with the subject of money. The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,000 verses on money and possessions.

- Howard Dayton, Jr.

As you will learn in this lesson, the Bible indicates that we should give at least ten percent of our income to the local church that ministers to us. However, our giving should go above and beyond mere financial contributions. Our gifts to God should also include our time and our talents. In short, God wants us to step into the offering basket and give ourselves. When we put ourselves in the offering basket, then God gets it all . . .our time, our talents and our wallets. Why would any believer not want to give something back to God, after He has given so much to us?

One of the clearest illustrations of this, was given by my pastor during a Sunday morning service. The theme of the sermon was giving and toward the end of the message he had arranged for a bag of hot McDonald’s French fries to be brought to him. As the staff member brought the bag into the auditorium the delightful aroma quickly permeated the building. My pastor then invited his junior age daughter to the platform. He explained that he had purchased the fries, and that they were his, but that he wanted to give them to her because he loved her. She sat down on the step beside her dad and started eating them. He then asked his daughter,

“Can I have one?”

“No!”

“Just one?”

“No, they’re my fries!”

How ungrateful! He gave her the fries, and he didn’t want them all back just a portion! However, sometimes believers are guilty of having the same kind of attitude with God. All of our resources are given to us by Him, and He only ask that we give back a portion. How selfish and ungrateful it would be for us to refuse to give back to God!