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Day 55, or February the 24th. You can afford

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to be generous, like God. Our thoughts today

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are from Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 17. Each

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of you must bring a gift in proportion to the

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way the Lord your God has blessed you. First,

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the big picture surrounding this verse. The book

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of Deuteronomy is so full of laws and decrees

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that you sometimes wonder why. I believe that

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it's because God loves his people so much that

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he wants them to get the most out of their lives.

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All these laws are not restrictions, but ways

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of benefiting from the wisdom of God in everyday

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life. They are for the good of individuals and

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society as a whole. Lots of them are about what

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is best to eat. In the days before refrigeration

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and other methods of food preservation, what

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God told them was invaluable. However, Moses

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makes it clear that simply doing what you feel

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is right is not enough. God gives us the full,

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unabridged version of his instructions for a

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great, healthy, satisfying life to be lived with

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him as the constant guide. And now our action

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step. When you buy tickets for a great event

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like the football World Cup final, centre court

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at Wimbledon or the Olympics, the price is secondary.

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The expected experience is all that matters.

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So why is it that many of the same folk who buy

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tickets for events like these are often the ones

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who say, the church, all they ever want is my

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money? Moses makes it very clear that God expects

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his people to give according to their ability.

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Speaking as someone who, along with my wife,

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has tithed for all our married life, God is true

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to his promises in his word. He is really no

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one's debtor, or in the words of that great old

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hymn, he is not a disappointment. Moses was speaking

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to a people living in a world where giving sacrifices

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to gods was the norm. In the 21st century, we

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are becoming a people who only give if there's

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something in it for us. Master your money before

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it masters you. Use it as God guides you, or

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it could guide you away from God.