The Way We Give

The Way We Give

How we give is as important as what.

Exodus 23:19

“The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.”

Proverbs 3:9, 10

Our text emphasizes that the best of our first fruits are to go to the Lord. This required a process of selection, comparison, and “sanctification” of the first fruits, setting apart the best for the Lord. Giving to the Lord must not be a mindless or automatic task. We should think and pray over our giving, make sure that we are investing in the best Kingdom enterprises, and consecrating our gifts to the Lord with prayer and rejoicing.

This instruction might seem to be contrary to what we saw previously about not differentiating in our giving. Rather, these two ideas must be kept in mind. Sorting, selecting, and sanctifying offerings would be required; at the same time, the people were to give promptly, without trying to make sure that they were giving the very best of every kind of crop or creature.

The way we practice giving to the Lord says as much, and perhaps more, about our relationship with Him as the mere fact that we give.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.