Author Steven Lake
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| The Story of the Tenth Thursday, May 29th, 2014 12:22pm Keywords: (None) |
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| One of the most hotly debated topics in the Christian world today is giving, especially in the area of Tithing. Some believe that you aren't required to give to God anything that He gives to you, and in some cases they don't believe you should give at all since God owns everything anyways, He can just fund His own work without our help. They're also emphatically against tithing. (FYI, tithe is a fancy way of saying 1/10th of something) Yet there are others who are so pro-tithing and pro-giving that they believe that if they don't give, and give often that God will strike them dead where they stand. Thankfully the majority of believers rest somewhere safely in the middle. But aside from what people say about tithing, let's see what the bible says. Malachi 3:8 (KJV) - "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." That verse alone ought to make you sit up and pay attention. By not paying tithes you've robbed God? How can you rob Him if all of it is His anyways? Or how can it be considered theft if He gave it to you? Well, the first question ought to partially answer this question. If God owns it all, and He does, then does that not make us stewards of what we've been given, and NOT the owners? So if we take what we've been given stewardship over and use it for ourselves instead of what our master (God) has told us to use it for, is that not theft? Well, let me ask you this. Let's say you work for a corporation and the company gives you a car for visiting clients and making sales calls, and you take it over to the local drag strip and use it to win races, isn't that stealing? Or even better, you sell the car and keep the cash. Wouldn't that be theft? It's not your car, so how do you have any right to do anything with it except what the company tells you to do with it? You're not entitled to anything of that car or in that car unless the company gives it to you. The same is true with the things God gives you. They're not yours, so why do you think you have any right to use them however you wish, especially when those uses are outside of God's will. That includes your body as well. Your very life is His, and therefore it must be used exactly how He wishes, and not you. Sure, God may give you freedom to choose, which He often does, but like they once said about EF Hutton, when God speaks, you'd better listen. But what about the argument that, "This is the church period. Old testament law doesn't apply!" Well, first off, Jesus never said we are not to give. Look at this verse and you'll see what I mean. Mark 12:17 (KJV) - "And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him." That certainly says that God is still asking us to give for His work and His service. There's no set amount or quantity on it (ie, Tithe) like there used to be, but the set amount that was dictated in the old testament law was there for a reason. One, when it was implemented the Jewish people were ruled by a Theocracy, with God as the sovereign (He still is, but that's another subject for another day) and men as the adjudicators. Therefore, in those days the tithes that were required of the people were essentially a tax used to pay for the operation and upkeep of the nation. The Levites, who were the priestly tribe, were paid out of those tithes and they earned their living as a stipend that was taken out of these tithes given to God. Today we do much the same thing, however since we're no longer living in a theocracy, the requirements for that tithe no longer exist, thus there is no set amount that we have to give. Or is there? Think about it. How often have you gone into Church or even some place outside of Church, and God has laid it upon your heart to give to someone, and do so in a set amount? Would that not be considered a tithe? Remember, a tithe was merely a set amount of giving required by a person that had to be given out of all they earned that year. That was not the total amount they could give. If they wanted to they could give it all. But God only required a tenth to be given. Well, technically the total giving was some 23%, as there were other required offerings they had to give. We on the other hand have it easy, as we are only asked to give as God leads us. But do we really? Do we actually give of all we have, and all we are given to God and His work? Do you give 10% of your time each day, or week, to God? What about what you earn? Or your car, do you use it at any time to help others or serve God? 10% of 24 hours is 2.4 hours per day. That can be given in bible study, prayer, worship, serving others, helping at the church, etc. Out of the 168 hours each week you're given, how much do you give back to the Lord? To give 10% is only giving 16.8 hours a week. That's all. Yet as Malachi 3:8 says, you have robbed God by not giving to Him. Yes, it may be sacrificial on your part to give that amount of time, and it may be nigh on impossible, but you need to do it. Period. Even to the point of forsaking other things. Now, if you think such giving of your time is impossible, let me ask you this. Do you have kids? Alright, maybe you do. Have you considered that part of that time each day could be spent in family devotions? Some could be spent in bible study. Some in prayer. Some in helping others. And the list goes on. Believe me, if you really do give your tenth to God, you will not only be obeying, but God will give back to you all you've given to Him in the form of blessings, and then some. Even if you don't see that blessing this side of Heaven, imagine the size of the treasure trove that'll be waiting for you on the other side! But really, in most cases we don't have to wait that long. I've seen times where I've bent over backwards to help others, spending most of my day doing things for other people only to come home to a long list of thing I need doing that got neglected while I was doing the Lord's work. That might seem like a tragedy until you realize that often I would wake up the next day to discover that the huge list I had to do which should have taken hours gets resolved in minutes. In a way God has given back to you the time you spent for Him. In the end instead of spending hours doing something, you only spend minutes, which means you then have all that extra time to do other things. But if you don't give to God the time that He asks of you, be that five minutes or five days, you will lose your blessing and it will instead be given to another. Now obviously I say don't work for blessings. Work because you want to; because you love God. At first you might have to motivate yourself by working for the blessings you know will come as you obey God. But in time those blessings won't matter as you'll want to work for God and do everything He asks, even if you get nothing in return. That is the ultimate expression of giving, which is one of the many incredible expressions of love, which in turn is an evidence of God's love within you, as you begin to love Him and others above all else. :) |
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