Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. | ||
| Philippians 4:17 | ||
| A difficult area for ministers is to address the subject of finances because it can appear to be self-serving. Nevertheless, Paul hits this issue head-on by saying, ‘It’s not that I want a gift. It’s that I want you to have fruit.’ When the person gets to heaven who gave the tithe which is the Lord’s and offerings which are above and beyond that, I guarantee he’s not going to say, ‘Phooey, I tithed faithfully. If I hadn’t tithed, I could have had a new patio set. And if I had only saved that extra hundred dollars from that offering, I could have had a new barbeque.’ No. For the next zillion years, he’ll never regret what he gave to the Lord today. The old adage is true: You can’t take it with you — but you can send it ahead. Read the book of Ezra. See the listing of the names verse after verse, page after page, recording the exact amounts people gave for the building of the temple. Why would God ‘waste’ so many verses about what people were giving to that project? I believe it’s because in it He is saying, ‘I notice what people give to Me and record it forever.’ | ||
