WATCHWORD:
A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. Leviticus 27:30
8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you? ’“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Malachi 3:8-10
Meditation:
Meaning of Giving
“I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” — Martin Luther
Tithing defined: “To pay or give a tenth part of wealth, especially for the support of a religious establishment or organization.” — Merriam Webster
Randy Alcorn, in his book The Treasure Principle, speaks of the tithe as the start of Christian generosity, the beginning of giving. The tithe is not the ceiling, it’s the floor, the foundation upon which your spirit-lead heart builds. Then there are free-will offerings, bake sales, food drives, blanket drives, etc., in addition to our tithe.
I confess, early in my Christian walk, I struggled with tithing. I look at our family’s finances and wondered how I could return 10% to the church, or to the Lord’s work. I found myself thinking of those “etc.s” as part of my tithe. I wondered if the tithe is based on before taxes or after taxes, as part of my search for loopholes in the “rules of tithing”. I don’t remember those thoughts or ideas with pride, only embarrassment in the telling.
More recently I came to realize, as Alcorn points out, that the tithe is “God’s historical method to get us on the path of giving…(and) it served as a gateway to the joy of grace-giving.” He goes on to say that tithes are the training wheels to launch us into the mind-set and habits of grace-giving. We come to know that in grace-giving we experience true joy. Grace-giving — not about money, it’s about grace.
In a sense, the tithe is not generosity. It is not charity. The tithe is a recognition that everything we have, all the wealth and all that we hold dear, has been gifted to us for our use, for our joy, for our lives by the source of all generosity: God. It’s all God’s, every scrap, penny, tree, House, clothes on our backs, all of it. To tithe is simply to recognize that fact and, in the tithing, we express our gratitude, and say hallelujah!
Bulletin Board:
One of Alcorn’s Treasure Principle Keys – God prospers us not to raise our standard of living, but to raise our standard of giving.
Closing Prayer:
We thank You for Your steadfast love and mercy on us. Father, we believe that every word in the Bible was breathed out by You, and we believe Your promise that You will bless us when we are obedient to Your Word. And so, without hesitation, we gladly give to You what is Yours. We praise Your Almighty Name! You have blessed our nation with immense wealth and opportunity. Lord, You have commanded us to honor You with the wealth you have given us, and we pray that You will be honored greatly as we give to You what is already Yours. We love You! Amen.
