One
important exercise in the work of God is giving to His work. And when it comes
to giving to God, the Bible makes it clear that God wants us to give with the
right attitude and perspective. We need to give generously but also cheerfully
and willingly. This is what we see here in Exodus 35:20-29. The attitude of the
Israelites, as they brought their gifts to God, is worthy of our replication and
emulation. They have set for us an example to follow. Moses issued the invitation
to contribute to the building project and the people responded. We are told
that in Exodus 35:21 that “Everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone
whose spirit moved him came and brought
the Lord’s contribution to the work of the tent of meeting and
for all its service and for the holy garments.”
What
made them willing to give to God was their tenderized hearts. Firstly, in
giving we need to have the heart to give. People’s receptivity to God is
determined by the condition of their hearts. A hardened heart is impervious and
unreceptive to God. In Christian living, we need to be both sensitive and
receptive to God and it begins with the condition of our hearts. Without that
there can be no openness and response. The people heard the call of God through
His servant Moses, and they responded. Everyone whose heart was stirred or
moved came forward to give. We need to make sure that our hearts are ever ready
to respond to God.
How
can we tenderize our hearts toward God? One key element is gratitude. We must
realize that all that we have come from God and we have nothing to give to God
if it is not Him who has first given to us. Whatever the Israelites could give
to God was what God gave them first. It was He who told them to demand gold and
silver from their captors in Egypt for the years of labor they had rendered in
bondage. It was God who made their captors ready to part with their possessions.
Giving must begin with the truth that all that we have would never be ours have
God not given them to us. It is only out of God’s generosity that we can give
to Him. Hence giving to Him is an act of gratitude.
Secondly,
in giving, God wants us to be generous and willing. Everyone who heard Moses’
call and was moved came forward to give whatever they had. Both men and women
gave. Giving has a way of showing how much we value God. When He is central to
our life, giving Him everything becomes easy. People are normally generous
toward the person they love. When we love someone, we are usually more
generous. God loves us deeply, so deeply that He generously showers upon
us richly. He gives us according to His riches in Christ Jesus. Not out of but
according to. The same must be said of us. Like the Israelites who were
motivated to give to God, we must also be generous with Him. Do not withhold
whatever is required for His work.
Thirdly, giving should be a
discipline every child of God must participate in. It must be a communal
effort. Only with the full cooperation of the whole community that they could
raise the material and the funds for the building. If they did not give, they
could not build the Tabernacle. So verse 29 tells us that “The Israelites, all the men, and women, whose
heart moved them to bring material for all the work,
which the Lord had
commanded through Moses to be done, brought a freewill offering to
the Lord.”
Fourthly,
in giving, God only expects us to give what we have and not we do not have. The
people came and gave to the work of God whatever they had. Those with silver
gave their silver, those with gold their gold. Some had acacia woods, so they
gave their woods. Others had materials so they gave their materials. So, we see
that they gave what they had and not what they did not have. We can only give
to God what we have. Every one of us must prayerfully consider what we have and
then from what we have, we give to God.
Today
in building the church, God is calling for the same contribution. We must give
generously to God. But we must first give of ourselves to Him fully in whole
abandonment, then we give Him of our substance. We must also offer Him our
talents. Let us give to Him what we have, generously, willingly and cheerfully. God loves such a giver and such we can be when we have a grateful and
tenderized heart toward Him!
No comments:
Post a Comment