The First

Read this the way you would examine an actual bank statement, not a hypothetical one: honest, specific, willing to see exactly where your treasure has actually been going.

For the next thirty days you are going to look honestly at money: what it costs to put God first in it, what generosity actually requires, and what it means to hold everything you have as genuinely his. This will not be a study that only celebrates giving in the abstract. It takes ownership as seriously as generosity, because you cannot sow well what you still believe is only yours.

The work is arranged in three movements of ten days each. First, Seek First: the right ordering of priority toward money and possessions. Then, Sow First: the active, deliberate practice of generosity. Then, Give First: the deepest foundation underneath both, that everything you steward genuinely belongs to God.

Each day gives you the same tools. A verse to anchor you. A short reflection to be read slowly, not skimmed. A response to actually live out with your actual finances, because truth you only agree with changes little at your own checkbook. A prayer to pray in your own words. And one line to carry with you into the day ahead.

How to use it: read one day at a time, unhurried, in order if you can. Let the reflection meet your actual finances, not a hypothetical version of them. Actually do the response. Pray the prayer, then keep praying in your own words.

All Scripture here is from the King James Version. Everything you hold was never actually only yours. Begin.