“ Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding, but must be controlled by bit and bridle, or they will not come to you. ” Psalm 32: 9 (NIV, 2011) Animals at times act intelligent and behave in surprising ways. But their intelligence also has certain limitations. As the scripture reveals that animals cannot be tamed unless trained to do so. A horse or a mule needs bridling and guiding to be useful to humankind. When these animals are trained repeatedly with external inducements, they tend to develop a pattern that humans find useful. But note that animals cannot be talked into doing things, like human beings for instance. Human beings are bestowed with a unique ability to understand things and rationally weigh different options presented to them in a given situation. When an instruction or an advice is given, only human beings can heed them or submit to them. It is also us, humans, who can heed to the promise given by God in the previous verse, “I will instruc...

  “ Honour the Lord with your wealth ” – Proverbs 3: 9 We can honour God in so many ways – by giving our time, talent and ourselves to Him. Here the word of God talks about yet another way to honour God - through our wealth. It is true! Our material possessions could be used to worship God.  Only one thing we need to understand for this type of worship is the concept of stewardship. Whatever we have in our lives is because of God and He is the real owner of our possessions.  How? Bible says, “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth” (Deut 3: 18). Whatever we earn is because of the strength God gives.  Though ‘honouring God through wealth’ sounds simple, it is one of the most difficult things to do. Wealth brings with it a spirit of possessiveness and reluctance to part with it. That is why the rich young man could not accept the instruction of Jesus to sell his wealth and give it to poor (Luke 18: 18 – 23). This is the...