Bribing God

 "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe." Deut. 10:17

Pastor used this verse in his sermon this morning. He used it one way, but it jumped out at me in a different way. Especially the idea that God cannot be bribed.

Have you ever heard a preacher tell you that if you give X dollars in this offering, God will give you 100X dollars in return? They use this as a ploy to raise money and to entice you to give. But it made me wonder if this is just trying to bribe God.

A bribe is money or favor given or promised in order to influence the judgement or conduct of a person in a position of trust. This according to the dictionary.

Are we being asked to give money in order to get God to do something for us? Sounds a lot like a bribe to me. A presumptuous one at that.

Our text tells us that God shows no partiality. He is not moved by our status of position. And that God does not take bribes.

Give and trust God with what's left and you will be fine.