"You
are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!
"Bring the whole tithe into
the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in
this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the
windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.
Insights: We live in a world where the weapons
of this world creep into the church.
Here is what I mean: recently the homosexual community called for a boycott
of Chick-fil-a restaurants. Their reason
was because the president of the corporation spoke about his beliefs regarding
biblical marriage between a man and a woman.
So, with worldly weapons you fight back in the area you think it will
hurt the most, the pocket book. As a
result the homosexual community encouraged every understanding American to
boycott from eating at Chick-fil-a. Here
is the point with this illustration: for a Christian to withhold their tithes,
for any reason, is just using the weapons of this world to hinder the work of
God. Now is the work of God truly going
to be hindered? The answer is NO! God is
a sovereign God and He is going to do what He is going to do. Here is how this gets played out in a church
setting: We get frustrated, or upset,
and say (whether we actually realize we are saying it or not), “I’ll show them,
I will stop giving my money to the church.”
As soon as we do that where has our focus shifted? Who is the “them” in that sentence? It could be the pastor or the leadership of
the church or any other earthly entity.
The point is hopefully clear; the focus has shifted away from God and on
to humanity. God Himself calls such
refusal to give to Him robbery. Let me
go one step further, most churches have some form of covenant between the
membership and the church. In most
covenants it has a section that reads, “…to contribute cheerfully and regularly
to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the
poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations.” Based on this covenant, to be in good
standing with the local church one must give.
As soon as one refuses to give their tithes, they have violated their
covenant and subject to the consequences of said choice. Beloved, we need to stop fighting as the
world fights and learn to love and forgive!
Questions:
- Are you withholding your tithe because of worldly
arguments?
- Are you willing to repent of this robbery towards God?
Prayer: Father, I
desire for You to be the recipient of all my life, including my financial life. Forgive me when I have acted selfishly like
the world and withheld my tithes from You.
Change my heart to honor You and give You glory. Amen.
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