“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
-Nelson Mandela
I attended a church service one Sunday that changed my view on possessions. After each mass, we have a discussion about various topics revolving around faith. The topic that Sunday was finances and this being a touchy subject, I was awkward to even take my seat and listen to the speaker.
The preacher came out and introduced the topic on hand- Giving. Giving away money, to be accurate. Yikes.
He then had the entire audience do a simple exercise before his talk. “Could everybody breathe in deeply?” he said, as he counted “Inhale. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 …” and then said “And now, hold it in, and do not breathe out…”
The whole room burst out laughing knowing he made a point- You cannot try to take in everything and keep it in all for yourself for the rest of your life, the same way you cannot keep on exhaling without having the need and compulsion to inhale. Giving away, he says, is a natural technique to allow us to have space to receive more. We expand our lungs as we practice more deep breathing, and naturally, we also increase the length, and depth, of our lives. Our lungs are pretty much like our finances. It expands as we learn how let go more. Giving acts as a vacuum and the universe rushes to fill in what we gave away, and more!
Whenever we give, we create space for more blessings and miracles into our lives.
1- Giving: Tithing as a Promise, not an Order
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” – Luke 12:34, NIV
Tithing is one of the Old Testament concepts that could be very hard to swallow and even harder to live by. After all the government taxes, rentals, phone bills and debt payments, are we really “required” to give 10% of everything we earn to the Lord?
Truthfully, we are not demanded to.
Tithing is not an Order
Tithing is not an order with an equivalent punishment if we do not obey. We do not get punished by the Church or by the Lord by not giving our tithes. However, not receiving the rewards of tithing could be enough punishment that we have inflicted upon ourselves. Simply put, we are not cheating the Lord by not tithing as much as we are cheating ourselves from the possible rewards tithing could bring.
If we look at the book of Proverbs 3:9 (NIV) which says “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops” and at the beginning of Malachi 3:10 (NIV) “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house”, it may seem to us that God is ordering us to tithe and give Him the first fruits of all the fruits of our labor to show that we honor Him and so there may be food in His house.
Here, we may see tithing as a law and an order we need to obey. However, a closer looks allows us to see tithing as a favor… not for God, but for ourselves. Clearly, God doesn’t need our money since He is the source of everything we have and everything we are bound to receive.
If we read the above verses in its entirety, Proverbs 3:9-10 reads as “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.”
“Then” being the operative word, the above verses suggest this-
Tithing is not an order but a PROMISE.
It is a promise of God to His people that if we honor Him with the first fruits of our crops, then we will be rewarded with so much more. Overflowing and brimming over, that is His promise.
The complete version of Malachi 3:10-12 (NIV) reaffirms this “’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.”
God, the Lord over all of creation, wants us to test Him to bless us!
Think about this: When a real estate broker finds a buyer for our property and closes the sale, do we not pay him a percentage of our sales? If we win a settlement fee for a case on court, do we not repay the lawyer who fought with us and led us to the win compensation for our victory? God did not only lead us to the victory or the sales, He gave it to us through His will. He closed the sale for us long before we even thought of selling. He fought for us and gave us the victory long before we even thought of asking for His help.
Again, tithing is not an order or a law- it is a promise of love and a covenant of abundance.
God didn’t have to promise us anything for us to follow Him. He could have chosen to rule with FEAR and use it to threaten us to follow his orders but He chose to rule with LOVE and use love to promise to us how much fuller our lives would be if we listen to His word.
Do not steal away from yourself the rewards of tithing! Breathe out such that you may breathe in again.
Article submitted by Aichu Therese Congbalay:
Bethany McIlrath is a freelance writer who is grateful for the Gospel. She writes about a variety of topics but usually focuses on the topic of budgeting, travel, relationships, goal-setting, entrepreneurship and women’s interests.