And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25 HCSB
“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me” You ask: “How do we rob you?” By not making the payments of the tenths and contributions”. Malachi 3:10 HCSB
Time and money are two things that we never seem to have enough of. If you are like me, both of those are usually stretched pretty tight. But I have learned that if I give the first and the best to God that He will take care of the rest. We are told in Matthew 6:33, that if we put God first, He will take care of all other things for us. I have learned that God will take care of both my time and my money if I give it all over to Him.
As a retiree, I get paid once a month. The first check written when I get paid is my tithe. I give ten percent of my income back to God. Now let me tell you that there have been times when I have done this and knew that this was going to cause me to fall short, but God has always provided. When people tell me they can’t afford to tithe, I tell them that I cannot afford not to tithe.
The same goes with my time. When you retire, people think that you sit around and eat bon bons and watch soap operas all day. My mom used to say that she was so much busier once she retired and I have come to realize exactly what she meant. When you retire you would think that your time is your own and you can relax and do whatever you want. Well, this has not been the case. Shortly after I retired, my little niece was in ICU and spent the second month of her life in the hospital. Soon after that my dad got sick and died six months later. My mom went through a terrible time after my dad died with depression and was later diagnosed with dementia and now lives with me. I also am involved in my church which takes up a portion of my time.
We have to budget our time and we have to budget our money. Well, what if you are not good at budgeting? Well, I am not good at budgeting, so I give my first to God. You see when I wake up in the morning God gets my first hour at least. Sometimes it may be a little more, but it is rarely less. Take a look at your calendar. You will see that the first day of the week is actually Sunday. We like to call Saturday and Sunday the weekend, but Sunday is actually the first day of the week. I give this day to God. Remember the ten commandments. Those rules that God gave to Moses that we are to live by, well the fourth one tells us that we are to keep the Sabbath day holy. This means that we are to dedicate this day to God. Now, my husband is a police officer, my step son is a police officer and my nephews work for a company that requires that they work some Sundays. Doctors, nurses, EMT’s, firefighters all have to work on Sunday. I am not saying that you are doomed to hell if you have to work on Sunday. However, when you don’t work on Sunday, what are you doing? Are you dedicating that day to God. Are you keeping it holy? Are you worshiping the Lord your God? Or are you taking your boat down the river, going shopping, sleeping in or watching movies, catching up on your housework? I learned many years ago that if I want to have a great week, to give God the first day of it. I learned that if I keep the Sabbath holy and devote that day to my Lord then He will guard the rest of my week.
Matthew 6:33, yes I know, I mentioned it earlier, but I really want you to get this. Matthew 6:33 tells us But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. I lived many years thinking that I had to work harder and harder to get the job done. I thought that I had to make more money. When I finally realized that all I had to do was focus on God and do the things that He was calling me to do, what a relief that was. That took such a burden off of my shoulders.
During this holiday season, our money and time is always stretched too tightly. Sadly, Christmas has become so commercialized that we often lose sight of the real meaning and reason we celebrate Christmas. So today I ask you to remember, it’s all about Him. If we keep this in mind and keep our focus on Him then He will take care of the rest, especially our time and money.
Have a great weekend! Or should I say weekend and week beginning!