Expand Devotion/Prayer Day 6

With All Your Heart

We tend to grow uncomfortable when the church talks about money. Why? Are decisions about how we live and how we use those resources unimportant? Is our faith supposed to be separate from our finances? Are not believing and praying and loving more important?

Look at a revealing count of New Testament words: Believe, Believing—275 times; Pray, Praying—371 times: Love, Loving—714 times; Give, Giving—2,162 times. Jesus knew that our treasures and our hearts are inseparably linked. For Him, talking about treasure was to reach more completely for people’s hearts. Remember the story of Zaccheus in Luke 19? We have no ideas what happened between Jesus and Zaccheus other than they had dinner together. But we do know that Jesus reached and dramatically changed his heart. How do we know? Follow the money! Look at what happened with Zaccheus’ treasure. Seeing where the treasure went, Jesus exclaims, “Today, salvation has come to this house.”

Maybe we are uncomfortable with talk about money because that conversation is getting awfully close to the heart of matters of faith. Their are many people who see themselves as devoted Christ followers who never tithe and never give to God via the local church. The question of a Christ follower is not, "should I tithe?" It is....do I want to obey what God has told me in the Bible.

PRAYER

Lord, teach me to love You with all my heart—and with all my life. Let salvation come to this house!