Tuesday Reading: Matthew 23:23-28
Key Verse: Matthew 23:23
23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and you have left undone the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith. You ought to have done these and not to leave the other undone.
Devotion:
The difference between the sacrifices of Cain and Able was stark and written down very early on in our bibles and yet man has continued to ignore the simplest of tasks of giving to God what is required by Him. If we can see a way of giving to God that does not require us to give everything but to give what we want to give instead, then we follow those ways and fool ourselves into believing that we are giving enough. What we are doing is placing a bounty on God’s requirement and limiting ourselves to that bounty instead.
Who do we think we will fool? What we are doing is akin to walking into a shop and giving the shop owner what we think we should give for a product rather than what the actual price is on the product. I don’t think we would get very far with that attitude in most shops; so why do we think we can get away with it with God who is Just?
We are not serving other people but rather serving our God. We should not be paying the right amount to allow others to see what we are doing or to impress others through what we do – we need to give to God what it is that He requires from us. God is not going to want to see you destitute or without anything just to give to others, but He does want us to be honest and willing to walk with Him and do His good will. His will and our will may well be totally different at first, but learning to walk with Him will show us how we too can be more like Him; then we are on the right road…
Points to Ponder:
Do you like giving?
Do you give to please God or to please others?