Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce. Proverbs 3:9
“This matter of debt competes with our love and devotion to Christ. If we do not find a way to control our spending habits we will continue to find giving a burdensome and difficult matter. The best way to break out of this pattern is to give our first fruits to God, and live off what remains. Until we learn to give to God regardless of our circumstances we will never be fully committed to Christ and His kingdom.”
Wesley K. Willmer in God and Your Stuff: The Vital Link Between Your Possessions and Your Soul (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2002) 64.
As we continue to explore debt together, I appreciate what my mentor and friend, Wes Willmer says about it. Debt really does compete “with our love and devotion to Christ” because it tries to get priority in our hearts and control our use of money.
The way to counteract this pattern is to give our first fruits and live on what remains. Jenni and I start by giving each month and don’t see “the rest” as “ours” but live simply so we have resources to share during and at the end of the month.
Join us. Give, live within your means, and have margin like the Good Samaritan to share with the needy. Willmer sums it up well. “Until we learn to give to God regardless of our circumstances we will never be fully committed to Christ and His kingdom.”
I want to honor my wife, Jenni, today as it’s her birthday. I married up, for sure! I am thankful she is committed to Christ, eager to give first, live simply, avoid debt, serve humbly, love richly, share openhandedly, and willing to trust God to sustain us rather than ourselves.