A Saturday Devotional Series
by Melanie Mentzer

“Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He has given thee.” Deuteronomy 16:17

Last Saturday I asked you guys what you thought of when you heard the word giving, a lot of you said things like giving money or items to the homeless, giving presents, giving your time by helping out others, etc. All of these things are great examples, and we’re going to talk more about them here in a minute! This week, we’re going to discuss why we give.

“Every man shall give as he is able” If you’re like me, you probably don’t have a million dollars tucked away in the shoe box under your bed. A lot of the time we mix up the word giving with the word money. As you guys said last week, giving isn’t just giving money. We have a lot of other things that God has blessed us with, which we can give.

“according to the blessings of the Lord thy God which He has given thee.” God has given us SO many things; the list goes on and on. This verse isn’t saying to give your iPod touch to the homeless guy sitting outside, but it is saying that we need give as we are able. Living in America, we are way wealthier then a ton of people. I probably just sounded really old right there, and I’m sure you guys hear this a lot, but it’s true. God has given us buffets of food, closets filled with clothes, toys that we can’t find the room for, money that we spend and spend, BUT He’s also given us things like time and talents. Giving isn’t always about giving material things, because giving our time and using our talents are just as important.

Application:

What does this verse have to say about giving? Why give? & How can you find some way to give this Christmas season?