A 2007 study conducted by, The Barna Group, only nine percent of born again adults tithe 10% or more of their annual income. Only nine percent! Why is this so difficult thing to do? I could sum my entire reason for this article up with one verse. “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 offering due to me.” Malachi 3:8 NLT.
I will however, elaborate per God’s command. Why tithe? you may ask. Because God says so! Well...if you must know, read 2 Corinthians 9:10-13 which explains giving as a ministry. In my paraphrase: this is a ministry that meets the needs of others and gives thanks to God. Tithing is not for God but for His people-the needy, the sick- and also keeping His institutions running. He requires it because He is God. His kingdom work must be done. I am not sure if we need currency in heaven but here on earth, monies are used in business transactions. For some of you who are still blah about it, believe it or not, it DOES benefit you ! ( as you will read below) And we should never give grudgingly but “always be cheerful” 2 Corinthian 9:6,7. I would suggest reading verses 6-15. This section is even titled Generosity Encouraged. And never give expecting something in return. NEWSFLASH: God doesn’t owe you anything. He chooses to give because of His grace and mercy toward those who obey Him. When you do give, here is what God has to say. “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do, says the Lord of Heavens Armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you wont have room enough to take it in!” Malachi 3:10a NLT. Is that awesome or what?! He then goes on to same, in the same verse, mind you “ Try it! Put me to the test!” Malachi 3:10b NLT Amazing! God’s words, not mine!
Proverbs 3:9-10 reads “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops: then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. Now I’m sure you’re not concerned about vats of wine in this day and age but you get the point. That was the desired thing back then. Although God is Almighty, He knew that if He spoke about getting new iPhones or 2 story brick homes to King Solomon, it would not have been as effective. There’s even a verse about getting what you give in Luke 6:38. It’s all about reaping what you sow. If you sow sparingly that is how you will reap.
Bottom line, give to God what belongs to Him. In the words of Joyce Meyer, “if you don’t, the devil’s just going to take it from you anyway.” My husband, Reggie and I can attest to this. We would save money for all the wrong reasons and not give God his 10%. During this time, it never failed. Not giving God His 10% allowed the Satan to come in and take the full 100%. Paying tithes WOULD have had us covered from attacks but not paying was a different story. The cars were breaking down, we were getting parking tickets, bills seemed to be showing up faster and for larger than normal amounts, nothing at the grocery store was on sale, etc. But once we realized whom we served, God and not Duke Energy, it all changed. The favor of the Lord goes further than any form of currency in this or any other universe!
Now we are in a place where we are always covered by the God’s favor. For example, we have an annual event at church; the Rainbow Garden. It is a wonderful event where each church member is placed into a group, named for its color themed teams, developed to raise funds for the ministry needs. At the end of the event, we have a concert and tons of scrumptious food provided by each group. At the most recent Rainbow Garden, my husband and I’s team fell short of our monetary goal. Both Reggie and I were only receiving unemployment at the time. Our portion of the money was slightly less than a week’s pay for Reggie. We did not let that discourage us and still agreed to pay the money. In fact, we were prepared to pay it that day but we did not because the treasurer went home. We prayed about it once we got in the car and did not mention it again. The very next day I go to the mailbox. I had just mentioned to Reggie that I would no longer say “let me see what bills came today” , rather I’d say “let’s see what checks we got today!”. Sure enough, there was a check in the mailbox! It was sales check from my previous job that I was told I would NOT be receiving. It came a month after the bonus and supposed last monies were received. But it was right on time! After taxes, it was still almost $100 more than what we needed for our team requirement! Look at God! Look at God!
On a final note, let’s not kid ourselves by saying “if I had more, I could do more.” If you don’t give $50 you probably won’t give $500. Luke 16:10 speaks on this. God has answers to any excuse we could possibly think of for not being obedient. We must set them all aside and obey the Lord.
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