January 26
"The magi had been among the first to welcome the Redeemer. Their gift was the first that was laid at His feet. And through that gift, what privilege of ministry was theirs! The offering from the heart that loves, God delights to honour, giving it highest efficiency in service for Him. If we have given our hearts to Jesus, we also shall bring our gifts to Him. Our gold and silver, our most precious earthly possessions, our highest mental and spiritual endowments, will be freely devoted to Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us."
Desire of Ages, page 65 from the chapter, 'We have seen His star'
I have a channel on Youtube with a number of videos on it. I have created most of the videos – but have permission for a few videos by other people. I have entitled one of them, “where does your tithe and offering go?” If you watch it you will note that over 14,000 people have seen the video.
Lots of people who watch the video like what they see. There are a few people who are not so happy with the contents. You can read what they say in the comments. While some people have reasons for their negative views about giving offerings I do get the feeling that some people won’t give offerings because they lack generosity.
Take a step back. When you bring an offering have you asked why you are giving an offering? Have you thought that you give your offering as ministry? Those magi were, in bringing a gift to Jesus, ministering to His needs.
Can I take a very simplistic attitude here? Can I take a child-like attitude here? We don’t how the gifts ministered to Jesus. We have no idea what those gifts were used for. They ministered to Jesus.
When you bring a gift you minister to Jesus, or at least, you minister to someone, somewhere. You don’t bring a gift and you don’t minister to Jesus. Simplistic? Yes.
Now, consider this. The magi who gave the gifts just gave. We are not told they were blessed. We don’t discover that the storehouses of heaven opened for them. We do find that God made sure the gifts were honoured and given the highest efficiency. The gift mattered!
You don’t give … and the gift can’t be used to God’s glory. Simples!
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Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
