There aren’t many acts in the Bible in which God asks us to test Him, but giving is one of them. Today, I heard a very powerful message from our church pastor about money and marriage. Among several things he spoke about were stewardship and giving.
As you may or may not know, One Money Design is about helping people manage money wisely for everyday life. In other words, the content here is focused on helping people become better managers of what God, the owner of everthing has entrusted to our care. Through the content, I try to share Biblical truths about money at least once per week.
Tithing
One of the things we are called to do is to give back to God 10%, at a minimum, of what is already His. When we don’t give back to God, scripture tells us we are robbing Him.
8 “Will a man rob God?” Yet you rob me. ‘But you ask, How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Malachi 3:8-10 (NIV)
Robbing God of the tithe
I will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much bless that you will not have room enough for it.
God will provide
Our pastor pointed out today that God is faithful and He will replenish what we give. This point really hit home for me because we have had this experience in our family. In Making Giving a Priority in Today’s Economy, I wrote a little bit about our giving history and how God provided for us after we made the decision to place Him first in our finances. God did provide and He replenished, but I can tell you He has opened the floodgates in blessing our lives with so much more than we deserve.
I know there are a lot of different opinions about giving and tithing and I certainly don’t claim to be a Biblical scholar when it comes to interpreting scripture. However, our family decided to take the test and put our faith first. Why not test Him? He asks you to do so. I believe God is faithful and He will provide, replenish and bless.
Photo by fireramsey.
