May 4, 2013

How do you know if you are trusting in the Lord with all your heart?

If you are not trusting in the Lord with all your heart, then what are you trusting in? How is that working for you?

Tomorrow my message comes from Proverbs 3:5-10, written by the wisest man in history. He tells the reader to trust in the Lord with all the heart. He proceeds to caution the reader not to be wise in your own eyes, but to fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. When a person does this it will be healing to your flesh and refreshment for your body.  Getting down to the application of this trust, Solomon tells us to “honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce.”

Last year when my blackberry patch was in its third season, it began to produce beautiful fruit. When I was able to go out and pick a bowl full of luscious berries, my heart overflowed with appreciation. I was thankful that Rochelle had given me four plants from her garden. I was thankful for this spot in my yard where I had built a raised bed. But mostly I was thankful to God, who caused the blackberry to grow and to ripen and to become delicious fruit.

Honoring God with our substance and with the first fruits of all our increase is a tangible way to indicate to God and to ourselves that we trust God. He does not need what we have. We need to offer it in ways that indicate He is the object of our faith, and our source of hope. Bringing the first of the first fruits to God’s house is the way we obey His word, and demonstrate the reality of our trust in Him.

If your faith is faltering, begin to take the first 10% of your paycheck, or your retirement check, or whatever the source of your income and place it in the offering at church. Jesus launched the church through his disciples as the visible expression of his body on earth. Bringing our substance (financial resources) to the body of Christ marks us as one of His disciples. In a mysterious way, he uses us to build his kingdom and prepare for his soon return as King of kings.

I trust the Lord with all my heart, and today, you can too. Remember, He gave his son as payment for our sins, what more could He do? O how I love Him.