Text: Luke 8:1-3
Memory verse:
”and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.“
Luke 8:3 NKJV
You should not only serve God with your talents but with your treasures. Nothing is too big to surrender to God for a man who has God as his Treasure . You can’t claim to love God until you have surrendered all your treasures at His feet. In the story of the rich young ruler, although he claimed to be perfect but his response when Jesus told him to sell all he had and give to the poor revealed the true condition of his heart. “But when the man heard this, he became very sad, for he was very rich. “ (Luke 18:23).
To serve God with your treasures is to honour Him with your money and all your valuables. It is to willingly submit your resources for God’s use and in achieving His purpose. Our memory text shows how these women, who had experienced His saving grace, served Him with their treasures. What you spend much on reveals where your heart is! (Matt 6:21). While other women might have spent on jewelry and fashion, these women used much of their private resources to promote the kingdom business. So also was the early church (Acts 4:34-35).
Specifically, how do you serve God with your treasures? Firstly, through your first fruit. This is your first income in a new year; your first income in your new job or business; or your first increase in your new job or business. It is guided by the law of the first and best belong to the most important. Who can this be but God! (Neh 10:35; Prov 3:9).
Secondly, through your tithes. This is the tenth of all your incomes, and in the New Testament tenth is the minimum. It’s to acknowledge God as your source (Deut 14:22; Matt 23:23).
Thirdly, it is a mark of honour to come into God’s presence with a self-fixed substance, that is, your offering. What you give is a reflection of the worth of the person you are giving to (Deut 16:16; 1 Cor 16:2).
Lastly, you serve God with your treasures when you respond to urgent needs of the kingdom, such as special projects, the needs of the poor, the afflicted and the less privileged (Tit 3:14; Jam 1:27).
Friends, determine to serve God with your treasures this year.
Prayer points
1. Father, please help me to serve You with my treasures this year and never to hold back from You, in Jesus’ name.
2. Father, help me to give, not as an obligation but as my act of worship and an expression of my love, in Jesus’ name.
Today’s declarations
1. It’s easy to give when one has encountered grace.
2. You can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving.