Text: Luke 7:36-43
Memory verse:
“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭8‬:‭22‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Appreciation is a way of giving someone his or her proper value. You won’t give something valuable to someone you don’t appreciate. What you give tells so much of the value you have placed on the person.
Have you ever thought of how much value God has placed on you? He gave out His only begotten Son, not animals or money, to redeem you (1 Pet 1:18-19).
Giving is a form of worship.
God had earlier commanded Noah to take with him into the ark, seven each of the clean animals, male and female and seven each of the birds of the air, male and female (Gen 7:2-3). According to Gen‬ ‭8‬:‭20, after the flood, Noah reciprocated God’s mercy when he offered his life and also gave the best of what he had as burnt offerings.
He didn’t give miserly but gave something of value both in quantity and quality. He wasn’t miserly to the mercy of God. Rather, he gave generously and abundantly. The scripture didn’t specify the exact amount of what he offered except that he “took of every clean animal and of every clean bird” and gave out as burnt offerings to God. Noah offered at least one seventh of all the animals in the ark! That was massive! It flowed from a heart of gratitude. You can’t be grateful and not give. Noah’s offering touched God and provoked a promise for the rest of time.
Our text is about a grateful woman who broke her alabaster box of very costly ointment and lavished it on Jesus. While others criticized her, Jesus commended her and gave a clue to her motivation – “I tell you, then, the great love she has shown proves that her many sins have been forgiven. But whoever has been forgiven little shows only a little love.” (Luke 7:47).
What you give proves how much you appreciate His love, mercy, grace, and His goodness. Don’t devalue or trivialize God’s mercy in this new year. Give Him your first fruit and tithe. Only the person who hasn’t placed value on God’s blessings will be stingy in giving to God or struggle to give his or her tithe and firstfruit. Tithe, that is, ten percent, is the least for a New Testament believer. God has called us to Grace giving, that is, giving far above our tithes (Neh 10:35; Gen 14:20; 2 Cor 9:6-8).
Friends, don’t offer to God this year what is not due to Him. Let your tithes, firstfruits, and offerings demonstrate how much you appreciate His goodness and the value you have placed on Him.

Prayer points
1. Father, please help me that my giving this year will reflect how much I value You, in Jesus’ name.
2. Father, please, pour on me Your giving grace, that I will give cheerfully and bountifully to You this year, in Jesus’ name.

Today’s declarations
1. I demonstrate my gratitude to God by giving generously.
2. As long as my seed time of tithing, first fruits, and offerings don’t fail this year, my harvest time is guaranteed.