So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

In other words, magnifying God must be the priority in all that we do, and that definitely includes our money. Money can become a touchy subject because we wrongly see all we can get from it...power and control, and we don't want to give those up very easily. I think this is wrong because after all, money is just money, and it really can't accomplish very much on its own. It is also wrong because it shows that we value money more than God. I like what the "wise guy" in Proverbs wrote:

Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce (3:9).

Solomon is teaching that the way we show that God is more valuable to us than wealth is by giving to Him off the top, not the bottom. We honor God with our paycheck when we look at the entire amount and give to Him first. I believe that by giving to God before buying even the necessities of life shows that my appetites don't run my life, but God does, and then I am going to trust Him to take care of the "necessities."

But Solomon doesn't end with just an encouragement to show the worth of God by giving to Him first, he follows with a precious promise:

Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine (3:10).

This is not a promise to make us rich, or to give us a Cadillac. I don't believe that just because we give to God first that we will live in a nice house or retire on the beach someday. That type of theology is self-defeating. The promise is that God will continue to meet the needs we have in life. And when we find that our "barns are full" or our "vats are bursting" then we will have all the more reason to be generous to those in need.

Grace & Peace,

Scott