Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.
Proverbs 3:9-10
The Lord doesn’t mind His people having stuff; He minds stuff having His people. We know this because He keeps giving abundantly to those who honor Him with what He gives. We certainly honor the Lord with our prayers, attitudes, and good deeds. But we also honor Him with our possessions. “Firstfruits” come at the beginning of the harvest, and so we are to be cheerful and eager givers when we get paid. The carnal mind thinks, “Shoot, just when I would fill up my barn and bank, I have to give a cut to God.” The biblical mind sees God as Lord of all and knows that He intends to give a lot more to the faithful. God loves a cheerful giver, and so He blesses him with full barns and overflowing new wine. Do big barns, lots of food, and vats of wine sound excessive? Won’t this wealth ruin the prince whom Solomon is instructing and preparing to rule the kingdom? Not if he honors the Lord with the firstfruits of his increase. Jesus trains us to be faithful in little so we may be faithful in much. So young disciples should learn to tithe, be generous, save, and then spend. If we are sound with unrighteous mammon, we will be entrusted with true riches.