Obediential Giving part 3

While obedience is a choice, it’s not an option.  To receive the anointing and favor of God we must be willing to love Him.  Today we continue our discussion of obedient giving.

Here’s a little snack: What an awesome change that was made in your life the very moment you came to know Christ as Savior!  Perceptions changed, desires changed… life itself changed for you.  The evidence of that change could be mostly seen in your new emotion for God’s Son.  Chances are you would have said that you loved Jesus even before you knew Him as Savior.  However, upon salvation, you were truly introduced to love at its very best.  Never before had you known love like this love!  From that point on, you grew in your desire to express your love to the one who loved you first.

It’s interesting, however, how little we understand our need to express our love to God.  More often than not, God’s example of love toward us (sacrificial crucifixion) is returned by us in the form of flippant prayers and haphazard church attendance.  Do we truly love God?  Do we truly love the one who gave everything… for us?

I have good news for you today!  The God who demands that His people love Him also gave us His chosen method of love.  That’s right; God not only mandated our love, but He also methodated our love. In other words, He both demanded our love and developed the only expression of love that He will receive. What is it?  The answer is obedience.  Obedience is the only expression of love that God will accept.

Our giving of tithes and offerings must be in response to His command to do so.  Not in a dictated manner, but rather, as an expression our love for Him.  You see, obedience is an expression of appreciation.  Because we appreciate His sacrifice for us, we will be obedient to His commands to us.

Furthermore, may we be appreciative of the fact that He would allow us to express our love to Him.  Think about it; God could have mandated that we love Him but not allow us a guaranteed method of love.  Like blindly throwing darts, we could be aimlessly expressing our love to Him… hoping that He will accept it.  Not so my friend! God gave us His chosen method of love by first demonstrating it to us in the form of Christ’s offering of Himself for our sins.  Jesus was obedient to death… “even the death of the cross”

May we, in return, express our love to Him by being obedient unto Him.  May we give of tithes and offerings, in the name of obedient love.