A Heart to Give
Exodus 25:1,2 The Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me. (NRSV)
It’s amazing how touchy people become when they’re approached to support God’s work. Given all that God’s given us, it’s rather an odd reaction, but a not too uncommon one, I can tell you.
I received a rather blunt letter recently and here, in a nutshell, is what the man wrote:
How dare you ask me to support your ministry?! Don’t you trust God? If God wants you to be in ministry, let Him provide for it!
Now on the surface of it, that sounds pretty fair – until you realise that ninety-nine percent of the time, God funds His work through His people.
You’ll find the first “fundraiser” in the Bible, in Genesis Chapter 25. God commanded Moses to build a dwelling place for Him amongst His people; the “tabernacle”. Great, so how do you fund it?
Exodus 25:1,2 The Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me. (NRSV)
So what? Is God poor? Did He really need their gold, silver, purple cloth and the rest of it, to build the tabernacle? Was He sweating on whether His people would come up with the goods, this God who had, after all, created the whole universe in seven days?
Not at all. In fact, it’s a ridiculous proposition when you think about it. So why then, did God command Moses to go to the people, to raise the support? Because He wanted their hearts and He knew that their hearts were attached to their possessions. How do we know that?
Here it is again: From all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me. You see, for God, it’s all about your heart.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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