Why Does Giving Your Best Change Everything for Your Faith?

Giving your best changes everything for your faith because it moves your heart away from worry and toward a deep trust in God. When we choose to give God the first and best of what we have, we are telling Him that we believe He is our provider. It is not about the amount of money or time you give. It is about the love and trust inside your heart. Many people think they need to wait until they have a lot of extra stuff before they can give. But extraordinary faith happens when we give from what we have right now. This simple act of putting God first helps us see that He is the source of every good thing. It makes our faith strong, joyful, and full of hope. When we give our best, we stop living in fear and start living in the freedom of God's love.

The Power of Ordinary People

Most of us feel like very ordinary people. We wake up, go to work, take care of our kids or grandkids, and try our best to be kind. If you look at the history of the world, almost everyone was just like us. Even the famous people in the Bible were ordinary. They were farmers, shepherds, and people who worked with their hands. They were not superheroes with special powers. They were just men and women who had the same worries and hopes that we have today in Johnston County.

What made these people special was not their own strength. It was their "extraordinary faith." Think of faith like the engine in a car. The car might look nice on the outside, but the engine is what makes it move forward and reach a goal. Our faith is the engine that moves our lives toward God. When we put our faith into action, it stops being ordinary and starts being extraordinary.

We see this happening right here in our own community. Johnston County is a high growth mission field. In just twenty five years, our area has grown by over one hundred percent! There are now nearly two hundred and fifty thousand people living near us. It can feel overwhelming to think about reaching all those people with the love of Jesus. But look at what a group of ordinary people can do.

Right now, we meet in a temporary building called the Civitan Club. It is a simple place, but it is filled with God's presence. Even though we do not have a permanent church building yet, our family of faith did something amazing. We purchased land for our future home and paid it off completely. That is what extraordinary faith looks like. It is ordinary people trusting God with big things, even when the path ahead is not fully clear yet.

Think of a child learning to ride a bicycle. At first, they are very wobbly and scared. They do not know if the bike will hold them up. But when they start to pedal, they find that the bike moves and stays balanced. The more they pedal, the more they trust the bike. Our faith works the same way. The more we do what God asks, the more we see that He is faithful to catch us and lead us.

A Tale of Two Brothers: Understanding Heart Posture

The very first story about giving in the Bible is about two brothers named Cain and Abel. They were the sons of Adam and Eve. This story is very special because there were no rules about giving yet. God had not given Moses the Ten Commandments. There was no law telling the brothers they had to give ten percent of what they made. Instead, the Bible shows us that something simply "stirred" inside of them. They looked at their lives and felt a need to say thank you to God.

Cain was a farmer who worked the soil. He brought some of his fruits and vegetables as a gift to God. Abel was a shepherd who took care of flocks. He brought the best parts of the firstborn animals from his sheep. The Bible tells us that God looked with favor on Abel and his gift. But God was not pleased with Cain's gift. This made Cain very angry and sad.

Why was there a difference? It was not because God likes animals more than vegetables. The difference was something we call "heart posture." This is a simple way to describe the feeling or the reason inside our hearts when we do something for God. Abel had a heart posture of trust and love. He wanted to give God the very best thing he had. Cain had a different heart posture. He brought "some" of his crops. It feels like Cain brought an afterthought. He brought what was left over after he took what he wanted for himself.

Abel's gift showed that he trusted God to keep his flock healthy in the future. Cain's gift showed that he might have been worried about not having enough. He held onto the best stuff just in case. When we give to God today, we have to ask ourselves about our own heart posture. Are we giving because we love God and want to honor Him? Or are we giving just because we feel like it is a boring rule we have to follow? God wants our hearts to be full of joy when we give.

The Difference Between the "Best" and "Leftovers"

To understand why Abel's gift was so special, we can look at the words used to describe it. The Bible says he brought the "fat portions" from the "firstborn." In those days, that meant the healthiest and strongest part of the animal. If you have ever been to a big county fair, you know how everyone wants to see the blue ribbon winner. That animal is the best of the best. That is what Abel brought to God. He did not bring a sick or weak sheep. He brought his blue ribbon winner.

Abel also brought the "firstborn." This means he gave to God before he knew how many other sheep would be born that year. Giving the first part of what you have takes a lot of trust. Imagine you have a basket of fresh apples from a tree. If you give the first and biggest apple away to a neighbor, you have to trust that the rest of the apples in the basket will be good too. If you eat all the big, juicy apples first and then give away the tiny, bruised one at the bottom, that is giving leftovers.

Giving leftovers is what happens when we are thoughtless. It is when we only give what we do not think we need for ourselves. This kind of giving does not require any faith. It does not help us grow closer to God. But when we give our best and our first, it feels like a big step of trust. It is an act of love that says, "God, I know You are the one who gave me all of this, and I trust You to keep taking care of me." Giving the best is a way to honor God. Giving leftovers is often just a way to check a box on a list.

Give God Your Best and Trust Him With the Rest

There is a simple lesson that can change the way you live every day. That lesson is: Give God your best and trust Him to provide the rest. This is a powerful way to live an extraordinary life. When we make this a habit, giving becomes a spiritual practice. A habit is something we do so often that it becomes part of who we are.

When we make a habit of giving God our best, it helps us stay connected to Him. It reminds us that every single blessing we have is a gift from His hand. Our health, our families, and our jobs are all signs of His kindness. In the Bible, people called this giving the "first fruits." Today, we do this by thinking about God first when we plan our time and our money.

This kind of living does not happen by accident. It takes intention. If we wait until the end of the month to see if we have any money left to give, we will usually find that it is all gone. If we wait until the end of the day to see if we have time to pray, we will probably be too tired. But when we put God first, we find that He has a wonderful way of making sure we have everything we need. He takes our "best" and uses it to do amazing things in the world.

How We Are Reshaped by God's Love

Sometimes our hearts need to be reshaped. Life in the world can be very loud and confusing. We hear messages every day that tell us to be afraid. The world tells us that we must keep everything for ourselves or we will run out. These messages can mold our hearts into a shape that is full of fear and selfishness. But God is like a master woodworker or a patient gardener. He wants to take the rough edges of our lives and shape them into something beautiful.

Long ago, the Hebrew people spent four hundred years as slaves in a land called Egypt. They were ruled by people who did not know God. After four hundred years, they forgot how to be free. They forgot who they really were. When God led them out of Egypt, He gave them rules to help reshape their hearts. These rules were not meant to be a burden. They were gifts of love. God was teaching them that they were no longer slaves who had to fight for every scrap of food. They were now the children of God.

We are a lot like those people. We need help remembering that we belong to God. We need to be part of a "faith family" where we can learn together. At Clayton Methodist Church, we believe in "social holiness." This is a big way of saying that faith is not something we do all by ourselves. We practice "watching over one another in love." This means we help each other stay on the right path. We follow three simple rules from the early days of our faith family: Do no harm, do good, and stay connected to God.

When we see our friends giving their best and trusting God, it helps us want to do the same. We grow together, and we learn that being generous is the best way to live. Being part of a family makes it much easier to have extraordinary faith.

The Greatest Gift Ever Given

The most important reason we give our best to God is because He gave His best to us first. We were all in a difficult spot because of our mistakes. The Bible calls this sin, and it is what happens when we walk away from God's love. We could not fix our relationship with God on our own. We were like a lost sheep that could not find its way home.

But God loved us so much that He decided to give us a perfect gift. God sent His only Son, Jesus, into the world. Jesus was the perfect gift. He was God's very best. Jesus lived a perfect life and then gave His life on a cross to pay for all our mistakes. This was a perfect gift for people who did not earn it. This is what we call wonderful and amazing grace. Grace is when God gives us something beautiful that we could never buy or work for.

Because Jesus gave everything for us, our heart's natural response is to be thankful. We do not give to God to try to make Him love us. He already loves us more than we can imagine! We give because we are so happy and thankful for what He has done. When we look at the cross, we see that God did not hold anything back. He gave His first and His best. Knowing this makes it easier for us to let go of our own things and trust Him with our lives.

Practical Steps for an Extraordinary Life

If you want to start living with extraordinary faith today, here are some simple ways to start. These are spiritual habits that any member of our faith family can use to grow closer to God.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

Living a life of extraordinary faith is an invitation for every single person. You do not have to be a perfect person to start. You just have to be an ordinary person who is willing to trust a great and loving God. Like Abel, we can choose to give our best. We can look at all the blessings in our lives and respond with a heart full of gratitude. When we stop worrying about the leftovers and start focusing on the first things, we find a new kind of joy that the world cannot give.

We are so glad to be part of this family of faith together. As we grow in our temporary home and watch our community grow, let us keep our eyes on Jesus. He is the one who showed us how to give with extravagant love. Let us encourage one another and watch over one another as we learn to trust God more every day.