Give All to God: Stewardship
LHC: Message Thirty-Nine (960818AM)

LHC-51
Week 39: Give All to God
(Revelation 18; 2 Corinthians 8:5)

As the end of days approaches, you can find hope as you give your all to God!
SUNDAY: Giving God Your All “What do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” —1 Corinthians 4:7, emphasis added Last week, we learned that Revelation 18 spelled out the end of the political and economic system of our world. In one brief chapter all the ages of man’s greed comes to a halt. That chapter is about God disrupting everyday life. It defines the judgment of God upon a society which worships the creation—technology, pleasures, comforts, and all other allurements of this world—instead of the Creator. God wants us to give Him everything, which starts by first giving ourselves to the Lord (2 Corinthians 8:5). If Christians aren’t careful to remain alert to the deceptions of the devil, they, too, can become ensnared with a love for this world and all that is in it— often without realizing that they have been taken captive. Becoming gradually attached to the world can happen to anyone (1 Corinthians 10:12). Have you ever heard the frog story? It is simply this: If you place a frog into boiling water, it immediately senses the danger and will hop back out. However, if you place that same frog into tepid water, and then slowly turn up the heat, the frog is deceived into thinking everything is fine—until it is too late! Satan works his wiles in the same manner, so we must remain alert in order to escape being ensnared in his “worldliness trap.” So, before moving on to Revelation 19, we will do a three-week “Life Stewardship Series” on how to conquer worldliness. We will learn how to give our all to God; how to give to God what is His in this life; and how to live contentedly and victoriously for Christ, which is our Great Physician’s antidote for worldliness. It all starts with discerning whether you are a pilgrim sojourning here for a short time—or an earth dweller with roots. Have you read John Bunyan’s (1628–1688) classic book entitled Pilgrim’s Progress? (If you haven’t, I hope you will.) He wrote from an English prison cell to which he was condemned for unlicensed preaching of the gospel. This is how he interpreted the words of Christ and Paul: “Whatever good thing you do for Him, if done according to the Word, is laid up for you as treasure in chests and coffers, to be brought out to be rewarded before both men and angels, to your eternal comfort.”
If you are a pilgrim in the biblical sense, you have the opportunity to send ahead building materials for the home you are going to live in. God’s children are not going to be walking in the clouds wearing halos and strumming our harps all the time. We are actually going to have a place where we eat, and most likely to which we can invite people. Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2a). That means rooms in a great house. We will have an address some day, and we are going to go live there eternally. Isn’t that fantastic? But there is one catch. God says that there are only two types of building materials: wood, hay, and stubble—or gold, silver, and precious stones. I believe that for all eternity the evidence of our stewardship on this planet will be displayed by the place in which we dwell in our Father’s house. That is why God is going to have to wipe away all the tears when we get there, for some of us have been sending wood, hay, and stubble that will turn to soot and ashes! But that need not be your case; learn from what these godly saints sent ahead.  John Wesley: “I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.”  David Livingstone: “I place no value on anything I possess except in relation to the Kingdom of God.” (That is why he lived out his last days in Africa.)  Martin Luther: “I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” God’s kingdom was the reference point for these men. They viewed everything in light of the kingdom. They were compelled to live as they did because they treasured the right things. To which world are you attached? Do you have the pilgrim mentality that recognizes that this world is not your real home—or are you clinging to this old world for the duration of your life? I believe that God will show you the truth as you move through the next few weeks of lessons. And you will be blessed because of it! My Prayer for You This Week: Father, I pray that Your Spirit will touch our hearts with the reality that You own the universe and are sitting at the finish line. May we live this life acknowledging that You own “me and mine.” I pray that we would hold our unclenched hands toward You and say, “All I am, and all I have, I give to You.” Father, I pray that You who inhabit our thoughts and hear our words before they are on our tongues would have heard from Your people the most transforming word we could give You from our salvation onward—“We relinquish the care of all that we are and have so that we can be free to live and walk by faith as Your servants.” Lord, we want to be good stewards; help us to invest time in Your Word getting our marching orders. Help us to spend time talking to You to find out how You want us to manage our time, treasures, and talents. Help us to desire to do things that draw us to You, oh Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.
MONDAY: Are You a Pilgrim or an Earth Dweller? “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but . . . were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” —Hebrews 11:13, emphasis added When it comes to money, possessions, and eternity, if someone were to assess your life, would they say that more of you is here on earth—or more of you is in heaven? Tertullian (ca.155–230), a lawyer who became a Christian in the early years of the church, once said: “And so it is that when a man walks along a road, the lighter he travels, the happier he is; equally, on this journey of life, a man is more blessed if he does not pant beneath a burden of riches.” As we look through the Scriptures at what the Spirit of God inspired the Old Testament writers to say, what Jesus said, and what the apostles said, realize that I will never give any disclaimers. In other words, I will never tell you: “That is what the Bible says, but it doesn’t mean that.” If you really look at what the Bible says to Christians about money, it is very uncomfortable. And I hope that you start feeling as uncomfortable as I do because I have studied these words a long time getting ready for this message. It is not my place to make you feel comfortable—it is to share what the Bible says. Thomas a Kempis (c. 1380–1471), who authored the classic book entitled Imitation of Christ, had this advice: “Let temporal things serve your use, but the eternal be the object of your desire.” J. H. Jowett once said, “The true measure of our wealth is how much we would be worth if we lost all our money.” The great prophet Hosea, who wrote several hundred years before Christ, tells us: “When they had pasture, they were filled . . . and their heart was exalted; Therefore they forgot Me” (Hosea 13:6). Every time our pastures get green and our fields get full, we run the risk of forgetting who made them green, and who filled them. God owns it all! Have you ever given back the title deed of whatever He has entrusted to you? When I bought my first car as a young man, I purchased it from a white-haired lady about eighty years old. She had this “boat”—an old Caprice that was so big that you could put a couch in the back seat. This lady told me that she wanted to sell her car to me for a good price. I knew she was serious when she pulled out the title and signed it over to me. Many of us have told God that we would like to give Him our life and everything we have, but He knows we are actually serious about such a commitment when we pull out the title deed to our life and say: “All I am, all I have, and all I will ever be—I now sign over to You!” Have you signed over the title deed of your life to Christ? Prayerfully consider 2 Corinthians 8:5: “They first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.” Are you rich toward God, or just yourself? The parable in Luke 12:13–21 portrays the futility of wanting more and more possessions. Jesus called the rich man,
“Fool!” (v. 20). Prayerfully consider what Jesus said next, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (v. 21). Do you live for yourself each day, or for Him? Prayerfully consider 2 Corinthians 5:15: “He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” Does God have the proper place in your life? Prayerfully consider Romans 14:12: “Each of us shall give account of himself to God.” If you have signed over the title deed of your life to God, and are rich toward Him by living for Christ every day, and are giving the Lord His proper place in your life, then you are a pilgrim. If you were not able to honestly affirm that you’ve given your all to Him, then you are most likely living with the attitude of an earth dweller.
TUESDAY: Jesus, Money, and the Believer “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” —Luke 12:21, Emphasis added While I was pastoring in the South, I heard this story about a new pastor. His first sermon had three points. The first was: “Make all the money you can make.” The people said, “Amen.” The second was: “Save all the money you can save.” And the people then said, “Amen!” The last point was: “Give all you can to God.” It suddenly got very quiet in the church. After the sermon, the elderly head of the deacons commented: “That was a great sermon till you ruined it on the last point.” In other words, we like to make all we can make, and save all we can save, but as soon as people start talking about our money and giving, we get offended—and call that “meddling.” Why talk about money at all? One out of every seven words Christ spoke was about money and possessions. If you do the math, the emphasis is there, no matter how you analyze Christ’s words. Sixteen of His thirty-eight parables focus upon the handling of money. Of the nearly 2,800 verses in the four Gospels, 288 direct our use and possession of money. Fifteen percent of the teachings of Christ are about proper and improper handling of our stewardship: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). There are over 500 references to prayer in the New Testament, just under 500 references to faith, but over 1,000 references to money and possessions, and where God fits in all that. That amounts to twice as many references to money as there are to prayer. Isn’t that interesting? The conclusion: Christ accorded to money an astounding prominence in His teaching. Why did He give it such prominence? Money is one of the central realities of life, and it affects us all from the cradle to the grave. Jesus would have been unrealistic had He not given it due prominence. So what place does money have in your daily plans for your life? Money is an acid test of character. Whether a person is rich or poor, if you discover his attitude about money, you will gain a deep insight into his character. One cannot be neutral where money is concerned. Do you love money or God most?
Money has potential for good or evil. This fact is obvious, and thus needs no elaboration. Are your money-making and spending choices causing you to be more godly—or less? Jesus teaches that some people hold on to things with grasping, clenched fists, and end up losing them. He advises that the way to keep things longer is to open our hands, hold those treasures in upturned palms, and say: “You are the Giver of all that I have. You alone are the Owner of all things. I am Your servant forever. I will be a steward for You of all these possessions. When You want anything back, just tell me, and it is Yours!” The Jews used to do this. If you could be transported back in time to the tabernacle or the temple, you would see Jewish people walking in. The father would be at the head of the family procession, and he would hand their wave offering to the priest. They were saying to Him: “It is in my hands and it belongs to You. Everything I have comes from You. Everything I have belongs to You.” It was a visible representation of God’s ownership. Such an attitude changes us from thinking “How much of my money should I give?” to “How much of God’s money should I keep?” So then, stewardship is giving of ourselves, without reservation, to the Lord.
WEDNESDAY: God Owns You and Me “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . . and you are not your own . . . For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” —1 Corinthians 6:19–20, emphasis added God owns you and He owns me. God owns the universe, and the finish line that we are all going to cross, whether we die or He comes for us. In the verses above, Paul is saying, “No, it’s not your life. You own nothing, not even yourself. When you came to Christ you surrendered the title to your life. So you belong to God, and not yourself. He is the only One who has the right to do what He wants with your life—your body, sexual behavior, money, possessions, everything. If you belong to Him, you owe God your full obedience.” Look at the problems the Corinthian believers suffered because they did not grasp Paul’s point:  Chapter 1: They were puffed up with their wisdom.  Chapter 2: They discussed who was enlightened and who was not.  Chapter 3: They built on the wrong foundation.  Chapter 4: They argued over the stewardship of things.  Chapter 5: They had problems morally.  Chapter 6: They took each other to court.  Chapter 7: They had problems with their marriages.  Chapter 8: They did things with demons.
They had one problem after another. Do you know what these people were doing wrong? By their lifestyle, they were saying what we often say about our own life: “I can do what I want with it.” The point is this: God is not just the Owner of the Universe in general, but the Owner of each of His saints in particular. In fact, we are twice God’s—first by creation, and second by redemption. Recognizing His ownership means living in the light of this overriding truth. It is living life with the acute awareness that we are managers, not owners. We are caretakers of God’s assets, which He has entrusted to us while we are on earth. I have many friends who manage companies. They do not own them; they manage them, and are answerable to the owners or stockholders. Owners are answerable to the marketplace and the government, and they have more power. How we handle our money and possessions will be determined by whom we really believe to be their true owner—and ours: “He died for all, that they which live should not . . . live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15, KJV; emphasis added). When I first memorized 2 Corinthians 5:15, it was a class assignment at college. Those three words “but unto Him” really gripped me. I remember taking a marker and writing on the face of my watch “but unto Him.” Because we look at our watches frequently, I would see those words and think: Is the way I am living right now acknowledging the fact that He died for me that I should no longer live for myself but unto Him? When will we be measured for how we did at living for Jesus? Second Corinthians 5:10a gives the answer: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” We are all going to stand individually before Him “that each one may receive the things done in his body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10b). The conclusive proof of spiritual change will be seen in an altered perspective on handling money and possessions. Note the words of John the Baptist’s message of a changed heart’s response: “Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, ‘. . . Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance [for] every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’ So the people asked him, saying, ‘What shall we do then?’ He . . . said to them, ‘He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.’ Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?’ And he said . . . , ‘Collect no more than what is appointed for you.’ Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, ‘And what shall we do?’ So he said . . . , ‘Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages’ ” (Luke 3:7–14, emphasis added). Our life will be judged according to whether or not it was lived “unto Him” or “unto self.” The first step to grasping Christian stewardship is acknowledging that God is the Owner of all—you included. Do you have this mindset: “I don’t own anything. My life is to be lived ‘unto Him’!”?
THURSDAY: God Owns It All! “Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it.” —Deuteronomy 10:14, emphasis added We need to let God’s Truth impact us today. As you read through the verses below you will see that God really does own everything! (Emphasis added to the verses below.)  “All that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; . . . And You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, . . . In Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all” (1 Chronicles 29:11–12).  “Everything under heaven is Mine” (Job 41:11).  “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1–2).  “ ‘The world is Mine, and all its fullness’ ” (Psalm 50:12).  “ ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Haggai 2:8).  “If I . . . said to fine gold, ‘You are my confidence’; If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great . . . ; If I have observed the sun when it shines, Or the moon moving in brightness, So that my heart has been secretly enticed, . . . This also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment, For I should have denied God who is above” (Job 31:24–28). Job was saying, “If I am counting on anything or anyone but God to help me to the end of my life, then I have offended God.” That does not mean that you should get rid of all your money, because God’s Word clearly says that you are supposed to prepare for the future by wise financial stewardship. In fact, Proverbs says a lot about saving money. The problem is that in our humanness we have trouble knowing when to save, and when to make a new investment in God’s work. Since money is one of the essentials of the work of the kingdom, it is not surprising that God’s great adversary, Satan, does all in his power to prevent money from finding its way into the Lord’s treasury—and for that Satan has many tricks in his bag to deceive His saints. Spending: Satan encourages us to over-commit by purchasing more than we can afford, so that there is little left over to give to God. Is your spending under control? Upgrading: Satan plays on our competitive instincts and incites us to constantly upgrade our standard of living so that any increases in income are already committed. When John Wesley was earning thirty dollars a year, he lived on twenty-six dollars and gave the rest to God. When his salary was raised to sixty dollars, he lived on twenty-six and gave the rest to God (the dollar amounts equal British pounds). That would be viewed as ridiculous in our society. Waiting: Satan dries up the fountains of generosity in the heart by suggesting postponement of giving to some future time. The stifling of a generous impulse today makes it easier for us to do the same tomorrow. You hear an appeal, and are touched to
help with a mission project or other investment in the kingdom of God, but you wait. Delay dries up the grace of giving. Leveraging: Satan so arranges things that the assets of the generous man become frozen or over-committed so that he cannot give what he genuinely wishes to give. Expanding business too rapidly often demands reinvestment on a scale that leaves little for giving. (Luke 12 and the parable of the rich fool come to mind here.) Keeping it to the end: Satan takes advantage of our uncertain times by promoting fear in many elderly that their savings will be exhausted before they expire. Others, he motivates to hoard in order to pass the wealth on to their children. Satan thus encourages people to short-circuit current giving to God’s work through what Dr. A. J. Gordon called “extra corpus benevolence”—that is the postponement of generosity until after death. This is an interesting concept. We should be sure to invest in God’s work before we die. Why is it that so many Christians make “death” their executor, leaving thousands and millions to be dispensed by his bony fingers? There is no doubt that it is wise to make modest provision for our dependents, as we are able, but surely it cannot be termed Christian generosity when a man waits until death to shake his wealth out of his pockets. Let us give all we can in our lifetime, and have the joy of seeing our money work for God. He promises a reward for “deeds done in the body,” not out of it. To be generous with God from right motives brings its reward here as well as hereafter.
FRIDAY: Seeing the Finish Line “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” —2 Timothy 4:7, emphasis added God is the One waiting at the end of life to assess our lives. He is the One who is going to determine our eternal habitation: eternal bliss or doom. He inhabits all of time—the past, present, and future. In fact, He Himself is beyond time. How can that be? If you were on the star Alpha Centauri, 4.2 light years away, the light reaching you would be from four years ago. We don’t have any trouble thinking about that. If you were on some distant galaxy that is hundreds of light years away, looking back at planet Earth through a telescope, you would be looking at events that happened hundreds of years ago. In a real sense, everything that has happened here is still traveling out into the cosmos. I don’t know how that can be, I just know that God said all the events (past, present, and future) are in front of Him at all times. Did you know that every word we have said, everything we have done, is radiating up in front of God right now? He sees it all equally, and He is standing at the finish line of our lives. The only thing that gets rid of the bad we have done is the blood of Jesus Christ. That is why it is so wonderful being a Christian. Although unbelievers have to face all their sins at Judgment Day, we get to “delete files” that we know are bad.
Jesus is standing at the finish line—and He controls all things: “ ‘I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death’ ” (Revelation 1:17–18). And Psalm 103:12 tells us that “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Emphasis added). Remember: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). When I talk to people about Christ, I like to show them these verses. We need to know that all of us are going to stand alone before God. We are going to individually answer His questions to account for our life, for God owns both the universe and the finish line: “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. . . . We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: ‘. . . Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:7–12). Stop for a moment and think about what you expect to have in heaven. Remember: all that you can take with you are those you’ve influenced with the Word of God. And, the only thing that you can send ahead is money and time invested in the Lord. In the space provided below, you may wish to list some of your accountings as of today. 1. Here is a list of those I have seen come to Christ through my witnessing and prayers:

2. I have invested time for the Lord in the following ways:

3. I have invested money sacrificially by giving to these areas Jesus approves of:

How are you doing in your getting ready to stand before Jesus to give an account of how you invested your life?
SATURDAY: Transferring the Title Deed to God “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” —Romans 12:1–2, emphasis added God owns all things, whether we recognize it or not. But life becomes much clearer, and in some respects much easier, when we consciously and continuously choose to acknowledge that Truth. The question is not whether we theoretically affirm God’s ownership. The question is whether we have deliberately transferred the ownership of our assets and ourselves to Him—like that sweet little white-haired lady
who wanted to sell me her car when I was a teenager. It was hers, and no matter how much she told me she wanted me to have it, it was not mine until she relinquished the title deed to it; then it became mine. We can talk about God, and sing numerous songs of commitment, but until we actually give our all to Him, it is not real. Have you invited Him to be what Scripture says He is—the Creator, Owner, and Controller of your family, your possessions, your money, and yourself? And have you extended the invitation again after you have taken things back into your own hands? Such self-surrender to God is the beginning of true stewardship. When we come to grasp that we are stewards, not owners of our money, it totally changes our perspective. Suddenly we are no longer asking, “How much of my money shall I, out of the goodness of my heart, give to God?” Rather, we are asking, “Since all of my money is really Yours, Lord, how would You like me to invest it today?” Commonly, most Christians reverse this. Instead, they think that it is really magnanimous of them to give God something. But in reality, it is all His anyway, so how much are you keeping of His money? His time? His talents? It was revolutionary when I truly realized that God has a claim on 100 percent of “my money”—not just a few dollars to throw in an offering plate, or whatever percentage I was willing to give Him. Suddenly I was God’s steward, God’s money manager. I am not God. Money is not God. God is God. He is in His place, and I am in mine. Not only does God own everything, but He also controls everything. Again, the implications of this are enormous. I don’t have to own everything. I don’t have to control everything. It is better in His hands than mine. And when catastrophe strikes, I can honestly adopt the posture of John Wesley when someone told him that his house had just burned down while he was away from home preaching. He said, “No, the Lord’s house burned down. That means one less responsibility for me.” As Wesley did, we must remind ourselves of both God’s role and ours to gain perspective in the face of loss or turmoil. What a life-changing and freeing perspective is God’s ownership and sovereignty when the house is robbed, the car is totaled, the bike is stolen, and even when the diagnosis is cancer. We thus can think: It is not my life; it is not my body; my possessions are not mine. They belong to God. Accordingly, we have two choices: 1. We can give ourselves to God: “They gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will” (2 Corinthians 8:5, NIV). It is easier to staff the material needs and ministry positions of a church if this is obeyed absolutely and positively. 2. We can neglect to give ourselves to God and live for our own pleasure: “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21, NIV). Do you believe that God owns you? Have you acknowledged that to Him? Will you relinquish the anxious care of stuff and the continuous calculating of whether you will have enough? Will you trust God to tell you when He wants some of it, and how to be a steward of it?
If you send your treasures ahead to be with Christ, you will never have to worry about which way the markets go. And you won’t have to fret about lightning strikes, tornadoes, or floods—because He is the Master of the winds and the waves. You can safely entrust all that you have to the care and control of your Almighty God. Make a Choice to Live in Hope: When we come to Christ, God puts all His resources at our disposal. He also expects us to put all our resources at His disposal. This is what stewardship and life in Christ is all about. If God has deeply touched your heart through this week’s devotionals, to reinforce this vital concept of stewardship in your mind, I suggest you sit down and actually draw up a title deed to your life. (You may wish to use the one below from Randy Alcorn’s incredible book: Money, Possessions, and Eternity.1) Date: I hereby grant to the Lord my God myself, all of my money, possessions and all else I’ve ever thought of as mine, even my family. From this point forward I will think of them as His to do with as He wishes. I will do my utmost to prayerfully consider how He wishes me to invest His assets to further His Kingdom. In doing so I realize I will surrender certain temporary earthly treasures and gain in exchange eternal treasures, as well as increased perspective and decreased anxiety. Signed: In light of all He’s done for you, what are you willing to do for Jesus? I exhort you to make a choice to live in hope! Take a moment, please, and meditate upon the challenging words of this old song: I Gave My Life for Thee I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed, That thou might’st ransomed be, And quickened from the dead; I gave, I gave My life for thee, What hast thou giv’n for Me? I gave, I gave My life for thee, What hast thou giv’n for Me? My Father’s house of light, My glory circled throne, I left, for earthly night, For wand’rings sad and lone; I left, I left it all for thee, Hast thou left aught for Me? I left, I left it all for thee, Hast thou left aught for Me? I suffered much for thee, More than thy tongue can tell, Of bitt’rest agony, to rescue thee from hell; I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee, what hast thou borne for Me? I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee, What hast thou borne for Me? And I have brought to thee, Down from My home above, Salvation full and free, My pardon and My love; I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, What hast thou brought to Me? I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, What hast thou brought to Me?
—Frances R. Havergal (1836–1879)
1 Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1989), pp. 185–86.