Giving to God

Since I've had an income, I've done my best to give as close to ten percent of my money to the church as I could. That's not to say I was stingy with my giving, not usually. It's that I'm too lazy to calculate exactly 10% of what I've got, and then get that to give, and it's a lot easier to round based on convenience. Before I had a job, I would give from whatever I had in my wallet at the time, because that pretty much amounted to all the money I had. Since I started getting a paycheck, I would shoot for $20 a week, give or take.

It's amazing to me that I can give even that much.

I mean, we are giving to God, for crying out loud. To put that in perspective, take out a dollar bill. Examine the wrinkles, creases, tears, and stains coating it. Now, smell it. Do you smell all the grease, sweat, filth, and grime that has touched that one dollar bill during it's lifetime? Do you even want to think about the bras women might have hidden that dollar bill in, the coke people snorted through it, or the strippers it could have paid?

The fact of the matter is, because we're all sinners, everything repulsive about that dollar bill is present in us in God's eyes. We shouldn't even be allowed near God, right?

How can we do anything for ourselves? If it weren't for God's help, we wouldn't be able to do anything. Period. End of story. Thus, everything we do have is actually from God.

Whatever we're giving God, be it time, money, our lives, or just our humility, we know that God likes it when we give sincerely. That is, we're not giving because we want something in return, nor are we grumbling about our gifts.

Familytree.com probably doesn't say whether or not I've descended from Abraham, Isaac, or Israel, but I'm pretty sure those who walk the same spiritual walk they did qualify as God's people. In that light, I consider myself and many of my friends and peers as a part of God's people. That being said, I often pray our hearts are in the right place.

How do we keep our hearts set on God? It's not that hard.