FBC Daily Devotional – July 7, 2021

Well, a good Wednesday to you. Here we are in the middle of the week already. I trust your week is going well. Short week, isn't it? Maybe it feels that way for you if your first day back at work was yesterday and you're already already at Wednesday.

Giving as Gratitude for God’s Redemption

So, anyway, on this Wednesday we read in Deuteronomy 26 and 7 and also a couple verses in the book of Proverbs if you're following the reading plan. And something struck me in reading in Deuteronomy 26.

Now, I'm not a farmer. I have a little garden in the backyard. It doesn't do great, but nevertheless, that's the extent of my crop raising. So, I'm not a farmer. I don't have this yearly crop that yields some great harvest from which I tithe and give a portion of that harvest to.

The Lord.

In the Old Testament agrarian economy in the nation of Israel when the law was given it was an agrarian economy and most people farmed in some way. They had some kind of land that they tilled and they raised crops and and they were to give a tithe on that crop every year and those tithes would go to providing for the the priests and the Levites, those that were involved in serving in the temple, the tabernacle.

And it was just a crucial part of the of the economy. So, you know, obviously I don't tithe in that way, but I still tithe on my income at least. I give at least a 10 of my income. I don't say that to brag and I don't say.

That as a.

Legal matter. I think it's a good starting point for our giving. But nevertheless, here's where I'm going with that. I wonder, I think it would probably be a good profitable exercise to do when I, you know, write out that check or actually I set up my giving online and I know every week when my offering is being given to the church, I get an email about it.

And I wonder if, I think it would be profitable if when that, when I get that email or in your case if you sit down and you write a check to the to the church and you're giving or whatever, if we pause to do something similar to what the Israelites did when they gave their yearly tithe, the tithes on their crops.

Did you catch this in Deuteronomy 26? They start off by rehearsing their past and they say in verse 5, My father was a Syrian. Here they are. They're bringing their tithe and they're saying my father was a Syrian who was about to perish and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there and my ancestors were few in number and there, there my ancestors, they became a great nation.

And.

The Egyptians mistreated us. We were horribly treated. So what they're doing is they're reflecting back on their history on where, where they were when God found them. They're rehearsing the the promises that God made to them.

They're rehearsing what God did in redeeming them and bringing them out, delivering them from Egypt. And they said we cried to the Lord God of our fathers and the Lord heard our voice. He looked on our affliction, our labor and oppression.

So the Lord brought us out and he delivered us. So how many times when we, when we give our offering do we stop and think about, you know, why? You know, what, what does this mean? Why am I doing this?

Am I doing this because, you know, I feel like I ought to? Am I doing it because the, the church needs the resources and the Lord's work, you know, to, to,.

To,.

To accomplish anything. It's got to have the wherewithal to, to do it. Well, all those are fine and they're good reasons. But really, when you get down to it, we ought to be giving as a response of gratitude and joy for what the Lord has done for us.

He took us from bondage. He delivered us from bondage and he gave us our freedom, freedom in Christ Jesus. He redeemed us. Oh, what is this gift? It is just a, it's just an offering of thanks, a gift of expressing gratitude for what the Lord has done for us.

And then they go on to say the Lord has brought us into this place and he's given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. The Lord has blessed me in abundant ways. Shall I not give back to him?

And so they go on to say, and now behold, because of all that the Lord has done for me, I'm bringing the firstfruits of the land, which you, O Lord, have given me. And then they set that offering before the Lord.

So, you know, obviously we're not all farmers and we all have, we don't tithe in that way. And even farmers don't tithe in that way. They don't, they don't bring a truckload of grain to the church and dump it in the parking lot and say, here you go.

They give in a financial way and yet how profitable it would be for us as we give, when we give, whatever form we give in, whether writing a check, putting cash in an offering envelope or an offering box or whatever, to stop and think, why am I doing this?

Why am I doing this? And then realize why you're doing it because of all that God has done for us. And this, this is a gift of thanks, gratitude for God's grace. Our Father and our God, I pray that you would teach us to give, teach us to give, to be generous with that which you've given to us, but to do so for the right reasons.

Not out of a sense of obligation, not out of a sense of fulfilling a duty.

Or.

Some legal requirement, but no, because we're so grateful to you for all that you've done for us. May we give in that way, we pray in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen. All right, well have a good rest of your Wednesday.

Church History Video on Gladys Aylward

If you can get to the Lord's house tonight, I encourage you to come to come to Faith Baptist. We're doing a series of videos on characters from church history and tonight we're going to be seeing the by a little biographical sketch of Gladys Alward and I didn't really know much about her until I saw this video and it was really a challenge.

So if you can make it, I encourage you to do so. Seven o 'clock this evening. So have a good rest of your day. God bless.