I am going to tell you what I believe about tithing.
I believe it is the umbrella of God, and I believe it is the greatest investment you will ever make.
In the Old Testament, the scripture is Malachi 3:10 and most importantly Malachi 3:11. I believe Malachi 3:11 is the umbrella of God.
Do you remember the Travelers Insurance commercials where it is raining and the red Travelers umbrella keeps folks from getting wet? The point of the commercial is that if you are insured by Travelers, you will be better protected.
I believe spiritually that tithing is much like that. It doesn’t mean you will never make a bad financial decision again, that you will always have an abundance of money, or that things will not go wrong in your financial life. In fact, we live in the real world and things do happen and bad decisions are going to happen. But, I believe over a long period of time you can look back and see God’s hand on you.
I believe tithing is the only situation in life where God literally says, if you tithe your income, I will fight the fight for you. All of the New Testament mentions that God gives you salvation, his word, his holy spirit, and says to you, go and I will be with you. The financial realm is different than all the other areas of our life; it’s probably because we have such a difficult time with money, and we find it so hard to let go and trust in this area.
Therefore, in the scripture listed above, Malachi 3:10 tells you what to do regarding tithing and Malachi 3:11 tells you what he will do for you. So, read 3:10 first and 3:11 reads as follows: “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and he will not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither will your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of Hosts”
Picture an apple tree with the fruit hanging on the limbs and vines and then picture all the apples that fall to the ground and rot because they fell from the vine too early. Got the image in your mind?
The devourer he is speaking of at the beginning of 3:11 is Satan or anyone that wishes you harm. For me and for you, the fruit of our tree and our vine is what we do for a living and how we earn money. Keep in mind that Malachi 3:10 and 3:11 are talking about money, therefore the vine, the tree and the devourer are speaking about money. So again, the fruit on my vine and your vine is what we do for a living and how you earn money.
To my knowledge, which I will confess is very limited, this is the only place and the only part of our life that God says he will go before us and fight the battles for us.
I can attest that we have been tithers for many, many years, so trust me when I tell you that I have not always made the perfect financial decisions and choices. Every deal I am working on does not always close, and I make financial mistakes. That said, I believe if you are a tither you will get to the 5 yard line of life and look back over your adulthood and see that God was with you more times than he was not.
So, back to the umbrella image. It doesn’t mean you will not get wet, but I do believe that if you are a tither, God will keep a lot of the rain/issues off of you. Will you be completely dry and perfect, no, but you will be able to see that God was there at every turn, every decision, and every financial choice you make. KT
Amen Keith. I agree. In the beginning tithing is difficult. Casey and I have been on the same page on this for a long time and have seen the benefits of this 10 fold. My sin nature wants to hold on to every penny and call in “mine” but how sweet it is to let go and have the peace and trust that God gives through that process. Thanks for sharing your life transparently.
I too add an amen to that. We learned a long time ago that you can never out give
God. I also like the way David worded it in 1Chronicles 29:13-14 “Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You and of Your own we have given You”. When we give a tithe we are only giving Him 10% of what already belongs to Him, and He allows us to be stewards of the 90% that belongs to Him also.