I kind of slacked on my Bible reading time for a bit. For some reason I allowed day to day activities to get in my way. Silly, when God is the creator of my day and I should spend a portion of it with him. And I know my day goes much better if I start it with the Lord. This morning is a bit unusual for me as I’ve been up before the sun. I’m a night owl and tend to stay up later, which means I sleep later, but this morning, even though I’m feeling a bit sleep deprived and sore from Lord knows what, I got up ready to start the day with him.
Yesterday, I decided that I’m taking the month of August and reading the Proverbs. Since I started a day late I read 1 and 2 yesterday. Several verses jumped out at me this morning but Proverbs 3:9-10 really hit home. You see, I’m expecting a check. And, as is typical I can find more ways on how to spend it than possible. Bills, vacation, conference, school supplies and clothes, home repairs, a dishwasher… the list can go on forever. And no, the check I’m getting won’t cover all of these, not even close, but the point is I can come up with plenty of ways to spend it, but God gently reminded me that hey, I need to honor him first.
After I was done reading I immediately got on Facebook to catch up with all the happenings in the social media world. I heard this slight whisper, “Share.” As I typed in the scripture God reminded me of the different ways I already try to honor him, or ways I should. I’m not always successful.
Here is my facebook post:
Proverbs 3:9-10 (NIV) Honor the Lord with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
I love how The Message reads–Honor God with everything you own. Yes, this includes tithing. For me, it’s also
honoring God by praying for my children and my husband. It’s honoring him with my attitude, which isn’t always the best. It’s honoring him by keeping his commands (Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself). It’s honoring God by praying for my enemies. AND it’s honoring him with the gifts he’s given me, like writing. For some, it’s sports. For others it’s music. Even if we feel we have no gifts, if we feel our lives are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, we should honor God with our worship.
Our lives should exude worship. We should live as if we serve the greatest God this world has ever claimed to know, not live wiping the sweat from our brow from the burden of chains as if we’re slaves to this world.
Consider this question with me today, are you living like a slave bound by Satan’s schemes or as a child of the King of Kings?