How important is God to you?
How can you improve your finances?
The simple words in Proverbs 3:9 answers both these tough questions. “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase.†As we said, the exhortation to give to the Lord in a meaningful way is not a complicated set of instructions to understand. Following through and actually doing what you say you believe is a little more challenging.
A young child can sometimes fill your ears with promises and claims of what he’s going to do, which is a perfect example of how cheap talk is. Reciting your grand plans to give to the Lord in order that you shall experience an increase in your own wealth is literally meaningless and a waste of precious breath. Why go to the trouble? Just do it.
Proverbs 3:9 tells us that we must give away to get ahead, which is a hard thing to do, especially if we find ourselves financially challenged and living paycheck to paycheck, or worse, living beyond paycheck. The word “firstfruits†requires that God be paid first, not tossed a few scraps at the end of the month if there’s any left over. Is a God that would be satisfied with that worth serving? At Solomon Success, we think not.
Tithing to your church is one way to fulfill Proverbs 3:9 but there are certainly others. It is not our role to stand in judgment of how to you decide to give your firstfruits to God, only to remind you that the wisest man in history, King Solomon, suggested that you should. The conclusion here is that if you give liberally, you will be rewarded liberally. The Bible is sprinkled with stories of how this concept worked out well for men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and, of course, Solomon.
Need we look further than one of America’s great industrialists and Christian businessman R.G. LeTourneau, who decided to give 90% to God and keep 10% for himself? To him, the question was not how much of his money to give to God but rather how much of God’s money to keep for himself.
Think about it. Are you paying attention to what God says in Proverbs 3:9 or pretending it doesn’t exist?
The Solomon Success Team
Flickr / Mr. Kris