How often do we lie to the church?In today Daily Bread devotional passages (Acts 5:1-11):
http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2009/09/11/devotion.aspx
We sometimes behave like Ananias and Sapphira, giving a portion of what we have and pretending that we have given our all so as to look good in front of others.
Have you and I done a similar thing like them? Dare to be honest?
I have.
One similar situation would be giving Tithes. A tithe is actually 10% of our incomes. Imagine if the Holy Spirit will to strike down all who offer their money as Tithes that is less than 10% of what they received for that month? I would be long dead. I usually give less than 10% as Tithes and the rest to missions' organizations and missionaries in need, adding up to about 15% on average. That is about the best I can give away each month. I just feel that BPCES is not doing enough for the money collected and so members are talking about putting them into fix deposits instead of investing into lives of missionaries and Kingdom works.
Still, it is not an excuse for me to give less than 10% and write it as "Tithes". As such, I have changed it to "Thanksgiving" instead of "Tithes". Yeah, I think I have again put it as tithes for the past two months. So this devotions is a good reminder for me to put things right as be honest.
Beside money, there are other areas. Our talents, our services ...
Is giving excuses not to do something for the church when we can, considered lying?
2 comments:
very thought provoking post :)
Hi Wei Lin,
Thank you for your comments and reactions after the post. It takes courage to openly identify with this blog. Nobody wants to do that.
After 21 posts on devotion, there is still a poor reaction and comments. Clearly, nobody who is reading this blog is doing their devotions deep enough to be moved by the HS to share their thoughts. Most of these devotions in this blog are very much prompted by the HS to write as it flows out of me.
All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Farewell!
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