A Covenant People

 ….I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

James Harnish (author of "A Disciple’s Path: Deepening Your Relationship with Christ and the Church"), in his discussion about financial generosity, insists that the starting point in a disciple’s understanding of giving is the recognition that everything that we have comes from God.

David writes in Psalm 24:1 (CEB), “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants too.” It all belongs to God. James 1:17 (CEB) echoes this truth: “Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from above. These gifts come down from the Father.”

So once we really believe that all the things we have ultimately belong to God, we can go forward into the practice of giving back to God.

The following story illustrates the concept of tithing, the practice of giving back to God what really belongs to him anyway.

Once upon a time there was a man who had nothing, so God gave him 10 apples. The first three apples were for the man to eat, the second three were to trade for shelter, and the last three were to trade for clothing. God gave the man the 10th apple so he might have something to give back to God in gratitude for the other nine.

So the man did just that, he ate the first three and traded the others for shelter and clothes. Then he looked really hard at the 10th apple, knowing that God wanted him to give it back with a grateful heart.

But this last apple seemed so much bigger and juicer than the others, and the man reasoned that God already had all the apples in the world anyway. Why would God need his apple? So, the man ate the 10th apple and gave the core to God.

We should not give because we think God needs our gifts in order to be God, or that the church needs our money to be the church.

Harnish writes, “The people of God — you and me — give to the church and to God because of our gratitude to him. We give back to God what is God’s so that through our gifts the love of God can become a tangible reality in our world. Our giving is a reminder of the blessings God gives us and gave to us through Jesus Christ."

O God,

I lay my life at your feet,

And offer you all that I am.

May my feet follow your leading.

May my mind be renewed with your truth.

May my heart be full of your grace.

May my words be full of your wisdom.

May my mind be full of your truth.

May my dreams be full of your vision,

And my soul fill of your peace.

I lay my life at your feet

And offer you all that I am.

Amen.