Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Bible in a Year Reading Plan: Daniel 1-6 | John 8
When I serve in the preschool room every Sunday, I have the honor of teaching kids the many ways we can love and follow God … which includes giving. A couple of weeks ago, a mom told me that her daughter just had a birthday and received some cash from a relative. Her daughter immediately decided that she wanted to bring that money to church rather than spending it on all the lovely things she could’ve bought for herself.
That little four-year-old understood that giving is a way for us to show God that we love him. Giving is an act of faith, of trusting God - the one who promises to give us everything we need - with something we think we need. God loves it when we have faith in him.
Faith is a nice thing to talk about in church, and the Bible is full of lovely, encouraging stories of people who were faithful and were blessed because of it. But if we’re honest, faith can be incredibly hard to actually live out. We want to control, or at least try to control, everything in our lives, which includes our money. Willingly handing that money over to God, no strings attached, goes against every instinct we have to protect ourselves.
Even when we do give, we still want control over where our money goes. We want to give to one specific nonprofit, or a certain friend in need. That kind of generosity isn’t bad, but it isn’t the same as turning our finances over to God and trusting him with their impact.
The author of Hebrews reminds us:
Hebrews 11:6
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Faith is hard. But God promises to walk with us every step of the way as we trust him. And, as Hebrews 11 says, God promises to reward us when we seek him. He gives us the opportunity to participate in something far bigger than we could ever imagine.
It takes a lot of faith to trust God with our giving and trust that there is an eternal treasure greater than anything we could spend our money on here. But that is the reward God promises - an eternal impact that we will see in heaven.
Questions:
Where in your life do you struggle the most with wanting control?
How can you trust God with your finances this week?
Next Steps:
Pray that God would grant you faith with your finances. Challenge yourself in giving to him, no strings attached, either by giving for the first time, choosing to give consistently, tithing your income, or even giving generously beyond that ten percent.
Prayer:
Father, it’s so easy for me to worry about my money. I know you are in control, but it is so challenging to trust you in every area of my life, especially with my finances. Please give me faith, God. Help me to rely entirely on you, and trust that you will make an eternal impact with the temporary gift I have to give. I believe that you will do far more with it than I could ever imagine. Amen.
Series Theme Verse:
1 Timothy 6:6-7
Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it.
Written by Lydia Snyder, a regular contributor to the Daily Devotional.