The Reward

Matthew 6:21(NIV)
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

How do you discover what you really worship? It’s not found in assessing your attendance at church or how many hours you listen to worship music on Spotify.

It’s found in your bank statements. Our receipts reveal what we love. Money has a unique way of revealing our hearts. If we give to God as part of our worship, we place our hearts there.

Jesus speaks so directly around money because he understands the great REWARD that comes when we learn to give generously and lavishly. And what is the reward? It’s Jesus. Intimacy with Christ. An investment in our friendship and relationship with him. And in Jesus is freedom, hope, peace, life, joy, purpose, healing … I could go on. As we give, this is our reward.

If we want to build our lives on the firm foundation of Christ the solid rock, we give. When we give we put God first. We make him Lord. When we give, we place our confidence and trust in God. 

That’s why Rachel and I have always chosen to, at the very least, tithe to the church families we’ve belonged to. In part, it’s been a great joy to invest in what God is doing in and through his Church to bless the world. But more significantly, it’s been a way of placing Jesus at the very centre of our lives. And in doing so we’ve always known God’s love, care, provision and blessing.

Gaze upon Christ long enough and you’ll become more of a giver. Give long enough and you’ll become more like Christ.

Prayer - Take the world, but give me Jesus, all its joys are but a name; but his love abides forever, through eternal years the same. Take the world but give me Jesus; in his cross my trust shall be, till with clearer, brighter vision, face to face my Lord I see. 

(From the hymn ‘Give me Jesus’ by Fanny Crosby)