It All Depends on Whose Hands It's In

The verse for 9/7 is 2 Corinthians 9:7, "You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully."  NLT

As humans who are born of the flesh, we have a hard time getting our minds around the concept of giving.  By nature, we are selfish and tend to think of ourselves before others, and even before the God who created us.  The bible is full of parables and verses about giving vs. greed.  God wants us to get this one right.  He wants us to see that what we hold in high esteem has control of our hearts.  If we are greedy and only look to profit ourselves, we sow our thoughts, our treasures, everything we have, into our flesh for self-promotion.  On the other hand, if we want to bless God and others, we give ourselves and our treasures away more freely.  It's all kind of counter-cultural isn't it?  I think that's why God talks about it so much.  He knew we would be bombarded by the world and it's attractions, that our flesh would want to feed our earthly desires.  He wanted to make His truth available against a culture of lies.  If we can grasp it, we can learn how to live by God's Spirit, not by our fleshly desires.

What this entire subject really exposes is attitude.  What is our attitude about what we have?  Do we feel like we are responsible for and can do whatever we want with what we have?  Or do we realize that everything we have is a blessing from a good God?  Do we give out of an obligation to obey the law or do we give out of worship and gratitude to a God who has provided for our needs?  Do we hold onto what we have tightly or do we offer our treasures back to God and ask Him to multiply whatever we have given to bless others and honor Him?

These are hard questions, but I think they really get to the "heart" of the matter.  Our willingness to give ourselves and all that we deem as ours to the One who blessed us with it to begin with, is very telling about whether we are sowing to the flesh or sowing to the Spirit.  Our lives will reap whatever and wherever we sow.  The harvest is up to God.  He can do so much more with it than we ever could on our own.  The value of what we give all depends of whose hands it's in.  In our hands it has mere earthly value, but in God's hands it has eternal value.  With that, I cheerfully offer whatever is in my hands into the hands of God.