“Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
Malachi 3:8
LORD Jesus we praise You for all that You have made and all that You are so graciously providing for us—our tithes included. Forgive us, O God we pray, whenever we neglect to diligently keep our finances in order. Help us to see what it is that You want us to do with our money. It is all Yours, so guide us to become wise and faithful stewards of all the resources that You are giving to us throughout our life. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen.
Do we take our faith seriously? Are we willing to obey what God has called us to do? Will we trust the LORD in everything, even our finances; and, if so, to what extent? Would we willingly let go of some or most of our wealth if He would ask us to?
No, this post is not going to be about selling what we have to give it all to the poor. It is also not about judging who is more blessed, the rich or the one in need. Neither is it going to be a complete study about tithing—that would go beyond the scope of this post. It is about a heart issue, and some of us are in need of heart surgery when it comes to our money and giving.
Excuses not to tithe
Have you noticed, and I’m not excluding any of us here, that people who are asked to tithe will find all kinds of reasons not to do so, or if, then to tithe in a limited way? “We cannot tithe at the moment because…” or, “We will start tithing as soon as…” or, “We do tithe, but we are not able to give as much as we would like to right now.”
Leftovers for God? (Malachi 1:6-14)
Many years ago, I worked as a volunteer handing out things to people in need. Sadly, many of the items we were asked to give to the poor were second best and sometimes even useless—all in the name of Jesus. That is wrong! Do we have to buy a Mercedes for a family that so urgently needs a car? Of course not! We do, however, have to be careful not to pass on what could become a burden to someone in need.
God does take it seriously what we are willing to offer on His altar. Whenever we are reaching out—to the pastor and his family, to the widow and the fatherless, to the poor and the stranger—we are actually offering sacrifices to the LORD. Will we offer what is good, or will we offer second best (passing on what has become a burden to us rather than giving a gift)? Would we offer the same to a famous person, a king, our governor?
Give a pure and without blemish offering, and glorify the ultimate Giver today.