“I know, my God, that you test the
heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly
and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people
who are here have given to you.”
-1 Chronicles 29:17, NIV
In Chapter 29 of 1 Chronicles, David gave all of his
resources for building the temple
of God – even his own
personal treasures (1 Chronicles 29-2-3). David also asked the whole assembly
of Israel,
“Who are willing to consecrate themselves with the Lord?” – Then the family
leaders, officers of Israel,
commanders, and the king’s officials also gave willingly for building the temple of God. Now, because the leaders had given willingly,
the people greatly rejoiced. And after this, David prayed in front of the
assembly.
In David’s prayer, he said that everything that they gave
only came from God. That everything they have provided for building the temple of God also came from the very hand of God.
David also said in his prayer that God tests the heart and is pleased with
integrity – but what is the connection between here between “giving to God”,
“testing of heart”, and “integrity”?
When I was pondering on this, God revealed to me that in
“giving”, He is testing both our “hearts” and our “integrity”. How? Well first,
let’s look at the connection between “giving” and our “hearts”. We, being
humans, have our own personal lives. We use the resources/money we have buying
things that will satisfy our wants and needs, and we are not reluctant when we
do this – that is because we value our own satisfaction. But when giving tithes
and offerings for the work of the church, what is the condition of our heart?
Are we willing to give like when we are willing to spend our money and resources
just to satisfy our cravings? If we are not as willing, then there is a problem
with our heart. We may say that we love God, but when we are reluctant in
giving, we are just lying to ourselves.
Second is the test of our “integrity”. Now how is our integrity
being tested in giving? Let’s define integrity first. Integrity is found on a
man who holds on into a principle, giving his whole self and heart into it, and
without compromising. Our integrity is being seen depending on how much we
give, and on how whole our heart is when we give, because in this, we
could know if we are giving our all or not. Once we are reluctant in giving, we
don’t give our all – we start to compromise. Our heart then feels heavy because
of guilt of not giving our all. But if we give our all, we wouldn’t feel guilt,
but joy instead, like what the people of Israel felt when the leaders gave
to the Lord wholeheartedly.
So as Christians, if we really want to say that “we love
God”, then we must show it in giving. And in giving, we must always remember
that we should give wholeheartedly – giving our all to the Lord and for His
kingdom.
Shalom!
Original link for the photo: http://vecto.rs/600/vector-of-a-cartoon-man-reluctantly-giving-away-american-money-outlined-coloring-page-by-ron-leishman-25050.jpg
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