Giving

Psalms 96:7-8 KJV
Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength.
Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.

I find the word give three times in these two verses. The interesting thing is that it does not speak of what God gives to us but what we are to give to God. The God who owns everything expects that we, who have so little in comparison, would give to Him

Who is to give
"O ye kindreds of the people"

We are to be givers and specifically givers to the Lord. No doubt we have things backwards in our day. We call good evil and evil good. We believe God is supposed to give to us. The Bible, however, says we are to give to God.

What we are to give
"glory and strength"

Not money and offerings.
Not sacrifices and oblationsThose have their place and we are to give them as well. But what we are really to give (and we likely give it when we give those offerings, sacrifices and financial contributions) is glory and strength.

We give Him glory by proclaiming that He is glorious.
We give Him strength in the same way

But we can also give glory by behaving gloriously, by living holily and
We can give strength by giving the strength of our life in His service.

Why do we give
"due unto His name"

We give it because He is due it.
Not that He needs it. He would be glorious and powerful without us.
Nor that we can add any to what He has. We are so tiny in comparison to Him.
We give it simply because it is His due. He deserves it.