Giving wholeheartedly to the LORD

Central Thought: Every one must give willingly and wholeheartedly for constructing the temple of God

Today's Scripture: 1 Chr 29:16 & 17, “O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. Vs.17, I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Loving greetings in Jesus name. Let us see about the importance of Giving to the almighty God in this passage today. The bible says God loves the cheerful giver. We read in the New Testament how much our lord Jesus appreciated the poor widow who gave her all (the only two coins) to God. That means all different classes of people can give for the glory of God. Three different types of people live everywhere. They are the aristocratic people, then the Middle class people and then the lower class people. But before God all are equal and every one has to give their best to the Lord. Here we can see king David having the desire to build a temple for God.

First of all , he started to give what all he can give towards the construction of the temple. He set a perfect role model to follow.

Secondly , he made elaborate plans to explain to his son, to all the leaders and to all the people to make them understand what we wanted to do for the glory of God, how all it must be built.

Thirdly , He called all the leaders and the people and addressed to them as we see in 1 Chr 29:1, “Then King David said to the whole assembly: "My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the LORD God .”

Fourthly , He motivated all by explaining to them the magnitude of the work and what all he has decided to give and kept separately for the lord's temple. If the leader who has a vision to build something for God and not wholeheartedly involving himself then the people also cannot catch the vision from him. We can read about that in 1 Chr 29:2 to 4 ; “With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God--gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble--all of these in large quantities. Vs.3, Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: vs.4, three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings,”

Fifthly , king David challenged all his leaders to do their individual contributions towards the construction of the temple as in 1 Chr 29:5 for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate himself today to the LORD?" when they got the motivation from the king they also responded equally in a more willing manner and gave wholeheartedly to the work of God. We read about this in 1 Chr 29:6 to 8; “Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel , the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king's work gave willingly. Vs.7, They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. Vs.8, Any who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the LORD in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite.”

Sixthly , He praised God and rejoiced with the people to show how much he is appreciating their giving. Giving is always a time of great rejoicing. We read that all type of people enjoyed giving to God's work wholeheartedly as in 1 Chr 29:9, “The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly.” Giving is better than receiving. Seeing the generosity of the people king David praised God as in 1 Chr 29:10 to 16 ; “David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, "Praise be to you, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Everything in heaven and earth is yours. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand . We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you .”

Seventhly , king David prayed to God that He might give his people a desire and a loyal heart to do something for him forever. God tests the attitude and the integrity of our hearts as in 1 Chr 29:17, “I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity . All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you . He prays to God that people should keep this desire to do something for God forever in 1 Chr 29:18. The bible says gift makes a way in Prov.18:16, “A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the great.”

What can we learn from this story?

Every one should decide some thing to give for the construction of the temple of God as in 2 Cor 9:7, Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Devotional Prayer: Dear Lord, enable us to give to you and to your work whole-heartedly from the depth of our heart. That we make your heart rejoicing by our devoted giving all the time. We ask for the spirit of cheerful giving to fill our hearts and minds to do some thing for you in Jesus name we ask. Amen.

Yours in the kingdom of God’s service,
Rev. Dr. T. Marcus Devasahayam.