My Daily Devotional

Our Framework for Giving

“The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your need in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame.”
Isaiah 58:11

I have written much about how God will satisfy our needs, but how do we distinguish between our true needs and our wants and desires? This is where we each have to establish our philosophy about generosity and giving to others, and make sure this is the same philosophy that God desires for us. There are two things that we need to understand in order to determine if we are following God’s will in this regard. The first is that we must understand that everything we own is not ours but is God’s. We don’t have anything that God has not given us, as all our possessions are His. He promises that He will provide our needs, but our wants and desires is another thing. God tells us that He will grant our wants and desires, but only after we have gotten our life in order about our generosity to others We need as much as will make us fit-spiritually, physically and mentally-for the purposes of God, but what we have beyond this belongs to the needs of others. The second is that we must begin to give generously to others, not for the good feelings that giving brings, but because we are supposed to be a blessing to them. We should give generously not with the idea of getting a blessing for ourselves, but to give a blessing to others. When we have our philosophy on giving aligned with God’s philosophy, we will have real freedom from the temptation to let material possessions and wealth control our life, and become our God. I would encourage each of you to look at your life and your philosophy about giving and align it with God’s philosophy. It is important to follow God’s commands in this regard, as God loves a cheerful giver, and thinking about others needs is to love others as we love ourselves.