I guess it’s occurred to many of us that it is odd that God wants us to give him stuff-Especially money. Yet clearly giving money is giving to God before it is giving to the need - ‘Honour the Lord with your wealth’ says Proverbs 3;9. Jesus said even giving a cup of water to a needy person was ministering to him, and Malachi 3;8 tells us that missing out giving is actually robbing God.

 

Revelation 5 says that He is worthy to receive ‘power and wealth, wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise’ all echoing the same idea as Revelation 4;11. God already has all of this stuff. He has riches in glory, he owns the whole of the earth and its resources, yet he is worthy to receive it too. We are called to give to God more of what he already has in abundance.

 

This identifies a key motivation in giving. We don’t give to need first, because God has none. We give in order to express and give honour. Giving comes out of the heart of men and women who count Him worthy. It’s giving what we value that demonstrates and expresses our true heart value for Him.

 

Worship is much the same idea. We love him and value him so we give him appreciation expressed verbally (which takes emotional energy and decision, especially when our mood is poor) – hence the idea of a sacrifice of praise which is the fruit of our lips (Hebs 13;15). And we give our lives as worship expressed in behaviour submitted to him (Romans 12;1). When we give Him everything we have come to the place of valuing him in the ultimate sense.

 

So we give not just because he is worthy but because we recognise he is. The extent of our abandonment reveals the level of our revelation of his worth, which is why God isn’t after givers who feel under compulsion. He wants giving from hearts, giving not demanded by law, but flowing from grace and love. He wants giving and worship which flows from a heart that wants to honour him.

 

Giving in order to honour helps us when we give to need, which is not a wrong motivation, just not the primary one. Giving to need often means we give to meet the need, that’s all. And we give to people we perceive to have need and can resent giving to people or things we think don’t need it. When we give to honour we are saying ‘I value you,’ 'I want to lift you up, not treat you as a project'. We give to help people not continue in their need. Giving out of our value for the people and /or the cause we give to bestows dignity on them.

 

When we give to honour we say to our church ‘I value deeply what you are, I appreciate what God is doing among us’. When we give to honour we give when there is no need, we give to bless and express love, just because we love. When we give to honour we give from the heart and not the bank balance as our primary consideration.