The tithing thing (1)

Tithing. We're going to spend the next four days really getting to grips with what tithing means, and what God's heart for it is. There may be a few surprises along the way - it's not quite as straightforward as popping 10% of our wallet's contents in a little wooden dish.

The first mention of tithing in Scripture is when Abraham meets Melchizedek, a man whose name means king of righteousness. Abraham had just been to battle, and he promised God he wouldn't keep any of the spoils (Genesis 14:14-24). When he meets Melchizedek, he recognises something so godly about the guy, so he gives him a 'tithe' of the spoils. Now, this happened before Moses was around, so it was a point in time before God had passed his laws to his people. Abraham was under no obligation to give 10% away like that. The thing is, though, he'd already dedicated the whole 100% to God when he promised not to keep any of the spoils. He didn't consider a single bit of plunder to be his and he gave the other 90% away after meeting Melchizedek anyway. In Abraham's eyes, everything he'd received was God's already.

The first tithing-lesson we reckon we should learn... Count it all as God's. He gives us a portion of this world and its resources to steward. But it's not ours to jealousy guard; it's his, given to us to use for him.



So what now? Know someone who God shines through? Share something God's given you with them today.





— SCRIPTURE —

'The earth belongs to God! Everything in all the world is his!' Psalm 24:1 TLB
— SOULFOOD —

Acts 16-17, Matt 4:18-25, Ps 7:10-17, Pro 11:7-9