Let us consider the offering in the worship service - our giving to God monetarily.
First, our Motivation
for giving: gratitude for grace. It’s easy to reduce the church offering to a
tit for tat. You give me a church service, and I’ll give you a check. This is
not our motivation. We are returning to God thanks for what He has done in our lives. We do this not to “make it up” to God, like we ever could, but because
our whole life is God-ward, God-oriented. We face God all the time. Children,
you receive from your parents and give back to them. This is a close
relationship. God is even closer. He gives us a breath, and we return thanks.
Ingratitude corrupts and even destroys these relationships. We are quicker to
see our needs than we are to see our abundance. We complain before we count
blessings. Let us cultivate gratitude in our hearts for "every good and perfect gift... from the Father of lights" (James 1:17).
11/4/12
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