Todays Devotion Malachi 3:8-12 (NIV) “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 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 there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty. This reading here is talking about something called a Tithe. What exactly is tithing? Is it the same as bringing an offering to God, or giving to a need? A tithe is 10% of what we have – of our earnings. We see in Malchi, that it says to bring the tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. This storehouse means the church where we go. Though this is a practice from Old Testament times, we can still live by this today – as the giving of a tithe or an offering is what we decide in our hearts to do. In the bible days, they often gave tithes of their crops – herbs, fruit and grain. We dont usually give a tithe of these things in our part of the world, though some countries may do so. The tithe we give comes out of what we have earned from the job we have. This is separate from giving an offering, or giving to a need. Both tithing and giving offerings need to be given from a heart willing to give. We need to give out of a desire to bless others. We should not give out of pressure, but to give because we want to. The important thing to remember about tithing, is that when we live by this principle, we are putting God first and trusting our needs to Him. Even if we think we dont have much to give, we should still give as God prompts us – as God sees our hearts and will bless us more than we could ever know. I can testify to Gods blessings being poured out on my family. I believe this is because we chose to put God first and gave our tithes faithfully, even though it was sometimes hard to do that. So, is there a way you can give to help and bless someone else? Maybe you have books, toys or clothing that you can give to other children that dont have much. But remember, giving is from the heart. Luke 11:42(NLT) Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And dont give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 02:41:00 +0000
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