‘Giving God Your Best’

Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.  Proverbs 3:9-10

This is one of my most favorite promises in Proverbs that says; when I give God my very best, He will turn around and bless me beyond measure.   Not just financially, but in every aspect of my life as I walk with Him.

We’ve all had times where we’ve experienced that ‘Oh God, this can’t be right’ moments.  It seems sadly that most of these come when there is a financial crisis looming, whether we’re married or single.

I recently went to 7-11 where I go just about every day to get my morning java. I have this brand new EDD debit card because I’m on disability because of my Chemotherapy Treatment which doesn’t allow me to work because of all the various side effects.  Anyhow, I went to use my brand new shiny card and….it was declined.  Immediately, I thought to myself, ‘I couldn’t have possibly used up my monies.’  I paid the bill with my regular card and all was well.  I went to check the error at the bank, and they said I had ‘plenty’ of money in there.   God had me covered, all the way.

“Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce.”

Notice it reads here, ‘Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best of everything you produce.  There are times I forget that I am already wealthy  in this world, because God has not failed once to provide for me.  The passage here doesn’t say give per say but, honor the Lord… Give to Him what He is due.  For the most part we think it means to give Him our money. That is part right, but what He is looking for is for us to recognize Him in the one place that means the most for us.  It could mean we give Him our very best at whatever we do.   Whether it’s sitting at desk, working with our hands, whatever, give it to Him as a an honor, because we owe everything to Him.

So we honor God when we give Him the best of what we produce.  Finances, time, our daily devotional time, and even our attitude. 

Okay, you might be saying, I do this……maybe not all the time but I do it!  But what about those times when we fail to give God our best?

Patty and I have wonderful dog named Libby, and although we feed her only food for dogs, she has this incessant habit of what I call, vacuuming the floor for anything that might have fallen to the floor.  She’s always looking for scraps.   Scarps is anything that is leftover.

I have to admit there have been times when I have given to God, scraps of my time, my effort, my attention, and yes even my money.   It is so easy to give the day to day activities in my life more attention than they really deserve, and then at day’s end give to God what’s left.

“Then He will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine”

It’s amazing how willing God is to fill to the point of overlow with good things. When we give Him our best, and when we bless others.

Take a look at the parable of the Lamp in Matthew 5:14

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.’

Don’t forget to give your best to others, and to give honor to God. Jesus says that when we do this, our Good Deeds will “shine”. They will give others an opportunity to ‘Praise God!’.

Patty and I were totally blessed with a new sofa set; and although our ‘older’ set was in very good shape, we decided rather than sell it for profit, that we’d give it away and bless someone with it.  This is just an example of how you can bring honor to God.  Not everything you need is centered around money but when you have it, it’s not a bad idea to give back to God from the top, and watch what He does!  Like my Pastor always say’s, “You can never out-give God”

Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.  Proverbs 3:9-10