"Formality"

"O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to Thee;" (Psalms 16:2) I slept in today, and it felt good! Continuing on with that same thought of preservation, we come to the proper order of how things work: we don't affect God, He affects us! In other words; God does not need us to do for Him; nor does our goodness affect His being, His love, or even His existance as The Almighty God; as a matter of fact, God does not need us at all for His existance; but we surely need Him!!! This is one of the things that people don't understand about giving to God: God does not need our money, we need to be blessed in our giving! All goodness comes from God, and is poured out upon us; we have no goodness to offer unto Him; nor can we give unto Him to cause Him to prosper, everything belongs to Him to begin with; so what do we have to offer unto Him? In truth, He wants us to realize that He is LORD, and to allow Him to be Lord of our lives; something that requires for us to be molded into His image, not for Him to be changed into our image; although, many try to make gods in their image, as to feel more comfortable in their sins. This is why it is so important that we are preserved by God; not only from within, but also from without. In other words; He must not only be that which makes us good, but He is that which keeps us good; because the goodness does not come from us, it comes from Him, and we are nothing without Him! In this same line of thinking; as we give unto God our tithe, do we do so as if we are blessing God? As if to say, Here is my tithe Lord; receive it and be blessed. I hope that is not our heart; because I do not think that God will receive that kind of an offering, because it is one that says, I am doing this for you God; therefore, receive my offering as an expression of my goodness towards you. That kind of an offering will not extend up much further than the church ceiling, and is intended for making ourselves feel good about our own worth, as if we have something good to offer to God; when in truth, we must give because we need to be blessed by Him, and we give with a heart that is excited for His goodness, for He is good!!! We give not because we must give, but give because we can give, and are excited in giving, knowing that we cannot out give God... "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; He hath given to the poor: His righteousness remaineth for ever." (2 Corinthians 9:7-9)