‘“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. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 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! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’ Malachi 3:8-12(NLT)
‘Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.’ Proverbs 3:9-10(NLT)
‘“One-tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy. If you want to buy back the Lord ’s tenth of the grain or fruit, you must pay its value, plus 20 percent. Count off every tenth animal from your herds and flocks and set them apart for the Lord as holy. You may not pick and choose between good and bad animals, and you may not substitute one for another. But if you do exchange one animal for another, then both the original animal and its substitute will be considered holy and cannot be bought back.”’ Leviticus 27:30-33(NLT)
‘Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”’ Mark 12:41-44(NLT)
‘“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.’ Matthew 6:19-24(NLT)
WHAT IS IT?
When the topic of money and church comes up, many people get defensive. Maybe you had trouble even bringing yourself to start a Bible plan about money. After all, isn’t God all about loving people and giving to others? Why should we have to give our money to God?
If these are thoughts you’ve had before, don’t be embarrassed. If you’re going to go all-in for Jesus and your money is included in that, you should have questions. And you should have answers. That’s why we’re writing this plan! So to start, we’d like to take the opportunity to explain exactly what the Bible asks of Jesus-followers when it comes to finances. As we read the following verses, we’ll see that “Give” isn’t even necessarily the right term.
Instead, we ought to use the word ‘tithe.’ The reason this word is more appropriate is because the word ‘tithe’ literally means ‘a tenth.’ And Jesus reinforces the reasoning behind this principle: No matter how much money you make, we are all called to sacrifice the same ratio, not the same amount. Someone with less money is not expected to give the same amount as someone with lots of money – Jesus is not after a dollar amount.
As we’ll talk about in tomorrow’s devotional, Jesus is after our hearts.
But for now, we wanted to start by explaining and reading just exactly what the Bible (and Jesus) said about tithing. So take a few minutes for yourself and see what it says!
from NEXT STEPS: Give