Prompted By The Heart

King David wants to build a temple for the Lord in his new capital city of Jerusalem. But the Lord tells him it will instead be his son, Solomon, who will do the honors. That doesn't stop David from collecting all the gold, silver, bronze, iron, marble, precious stones and wood he can get in preparation of the building. He even digs into his own "personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God" (1 Chronicles 29:3). He was making an offering. Then he says to the Israelites, "Now, who is willing to consecrate himself today to the Lord?" (1 Chronicles 29:5). At t his point, the leaders of the families, officers and commanders of the king's army and officials that worked for the king, all stepped forward and made their offering likewise of gold, silver, bronze, iron and precious stones. 1 Chronicles 29:9 says, "The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly."

There is another time when the Israelites dug deep in their offering for a building project. Back in Exodus when Moses was putting together plans for the tabernacle (a portable temple of the Lord), God told Moses, "You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give" (Exodus 25:2). We learn in Exodus 36 that the people went above and beyond in their offerings, so much so that the people were eventually told to restrain from bringing more, "because what they already had more than enough to do all the work" (vs. 7).

Scripture says "everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the Lord" (Exodus 35:21). We are asked by God to give an offering. Matter of fact, in Malachi 3 we are told to give 10 percent. We talked about this last year on Nov. 7 in this blog. We told you about how blessed you will be if you give. But notice the key point here ... the condition of the heart. Is the heart prompted? Is the heart willing? We learn from Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, "The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully, will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." God wants us to give with joy back to the One who does likewise. If giving to the Lord is done reluctantly, how sincere is this gift? King David tells his son, Solomon, in 1 Chronicles 28:9, "the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts" and later reaffirms that statement when he sees the amazing response of the offering of the Israelites by saying, "I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willignly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you" (1 Chronicles 29:17).

We expect our children to give 10 percent of everything they earn to the Lord for the growth of His kingdom, but we want it to be given willingly, with joy to the Almighty. To reap bountifully, you must sow bountifully. We want to see you reap bountifully!

So check your heart. Are you giving with a cheerful heart? Are you giving at all? All that we have is His and He gives it to us in abundance. Praying you are doing abundantly the same.

Discussion: Do you give an offering? Do you think 10 percent is important? Do you find it hard to give out of what you earn? Would you be willing to test the Lord in giving (see Malachi 3:10)?

Prayer: Lord God we are humbled by everything you graciously give to us. Inspire us, Father, to give a portion back to you so that your kingdom can grow and your children be cared for. We know You are faithful. We pray our hearts are cheerful in giving as you do. In Jesus Christ who gave His all, Amen.

Obedience Without Reservation

I saw a quote from a Christian music artist just recently who had made some lifestyle choices that went against Scripture. In this article about her, she made this comment when saying she had reconciled her life to her faith: "God, this is what I got, so you love me with this from where we're starting today or you don't." She said she embraced her choices at this point and has moved forward. Here's the thing. Her prayer to God ... sounds like an ultimatum founded on the obvious. She asks God if He will love her as is. And here's the thing ... if she's Christian she knows God already loves her ... enough to die for her. He created her. He knows her heart. He loves her so unbelievably much. He loves everyone of us that way. But He doesn't want us to stay where we are. No matter what sin we have, He will love us. But He wants us to become more like Christ. He doesn't want us to say, "Hey - this is my sin. Love me this way or not, I'm staying here." It's like saying, "Liars, keep lying. God loves you." Or "Thieves, keep stealing. God loves you." Or "Adulterers, keep on cheating on your spouses. God loves you."

God calls us to a life of obedience to His will. In the Disciples Bible Study it says this: "Faith is not belief without proof; faith is obedience without reservation." That is backed up with Scripture which says in 1 Samuel 15:22: "And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams." And in Romans 6:16 "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?" And then powerfully so in 1 John 5:2-4 "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith." Christ himself said in John 14:23, "Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them."

We are called by God to be obedient to His commands, and not just the ones we want to obey. We are to love. We are to be generous. We are to care for the least of these. We are not supposed to sin. Those are the rules. And we show we love God by being obedient to them ... not giving Him ultimatums and telling Him how we are going to live our lives. 

We want you both to understand the importance of obedience to God in all aspects of your lives. You will make mistakes, for sure, and God will love you nonetheless. That doesn't mean you continue in them. You will understand this more fully when you become a parent. You will love your children regardless of the errors they make, but you sure don't want them to continue in breaking the rules. You want them to grow, make choices based on righteousness and conform to the image of Christ. Don't ever settle for, "This is who I am, I like it, so I am staying this way." Instead strive for, "This is who Christ is, I love Him, and that's how I want to be."

The wisest man on the earth was King Solomon. He wrote a book called Ecclesiastes during the latter years of his life. This man had everything: money, power, women, brains. He had it all. But what he realized in his life was that none of that brought happiness. "'Meaningless, meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Everything is meaningless,'" he says in Ecclesiastes 12:8. But he concludes at the end of his book in 12:13-14: "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." The Israel kingdom was torn in two because King Solomon didn't obey God. And he left behind him a legacy of bad kings who disobeyed God, eventually leading to the destruction of Jerusalem. God wants obedience. He is a holy and just God who demands it. And because of His forgiveness, we see a new King was sent to earth as a baby to open the door for that forgiveness. 

Obedience without reservation ... that shows our love for Him. Be obedient.

Discussion: Are there areas of your life that you need to be obedient to God in? What are some ways you can keep yourself in check with God's commands?

Prayer: Father, please forgive us for our sins. You have told us and shown us how we are to live, and we fail You every day. Lord God, may Your Holy Spirit ever remind us of Your Word that we will be obedient to it. We love you, Father, and thank you for the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, Amen.