Giving - to church or missionaries or ???

Just a quick thought for today. As I’m reading through the BIble in a year and am in Numbers and God is instructing the Levites to give a tithe of the Israelites’ tithes, He makes it clear that they are to give the best of what they receive. I’m challenged to consider the quality of my giving and the motive behind my giving.

“You must present one-tenth of the tithe received from the Israelites as a sacred offering to the Lord... Be sure to give to the Lord the best portions of the gifts given to you.” (Numbers 18: 28,29)

Do we give the best of what we receive to our local church, mission agency, missionaries, organizations? Or do they receive from our leftovers? I don’t want to get into the discussion of where your “tithe” should be given, but rather the motive behind our giving and the quality of our gifts.

As a former full-time-on-the-field missionary, I could tell you stories of “gifts” that we received that were more like curses or burdens because they were someone’s cast-offs or leftovers - low in quality, though somewhat higher in quantity (of value).

As well, I can tell you stories (praise God that there are more of these than the other kind) of gifts that we received that were incredible blessings - phenomenal vacations that we could never afford, luxurious dining opportunities, automobiles, computers, money, and so very much more!

All I am asking today is that we look at the QUALITY of our giving more than the QUANTITY of our giving.

In today’s vernacular, “I’m just sayin’...”

Feet in the sand...

As I mulled over my life today, I recalled a night which I spent on the beach in Hawaii as a college student. I was with some friends and we stayed up all night long talking, laughing and enjoying the cool moist sand under our feet and between our toes.

Still sitting in the sand, we stayed until we watched as the sun rose over the cloudless blue horizon.

It was a spiritual experience that I cannot express in words.

I don’t think I can ever duplicate it either (even if I were to return to Hawaii to the same spot and time of year) - nor do I desire to do so.

I did decide that I wanted my wife & kids (and their spouses) to live through the same experience. Will it be the same for them? I don’t know.

All I know is that the opportunity to experience something so beyond us, so vast, so gorgeous and beautiful is a once-in-a-lifetime deal.