New Math

There's a song I would teach my pre-school classes that went, "Love is something if you give it away, give it away, give it away. Love is something if you give it away, you end up having more."

It's true, isn't it? The more you love, the more you receive love in return. The more you hate, the more you receive hate in return. Mathematically, it's a pretty good deal.

God is the same way. We've been talking about why we would put God first and why we would offer Him our best. Our third reason is that giving God our best and first fruits brings so much more than it takes away.

It's not as selfish as it seems, and it's definitely not a "get rich quick" scheme, although it does make your life much, much richer.

I was married right after I finished college, so my husband and I had to figure out our finances together. We knew we wanted to donate to the church, and we figured out pretty quickly that if we waited until the end of the month to see what was left over, we usually had an embarrassingly small amount to give.

Our donations changed dramatically when we took money out of our paychecks like a bill - before we spent it on anything else. Just like our savings, our electric bill, and our mortgage, our donation was a non-negotiable item. We paid ourselves first in our savings, how could we pay God last?

I'm sure it's no surprise that we had plenty to give and had no difference in what was left over at the end. We were able to buy what we needed and a lot of things we wanted, and we were ready to give again with the next paycheck.

As we offer our best to God, we can offer our work, our money, our time, and our love. What do you give, and how have you seen it given back to you?

Photo: A May