Yes I did say Sunday that only approximately 2% of the people at MVC actually give a tithe - 10%. And it is a crying shame that we who call ourselves Christian blatantly disobey God's word in this area. That's one reason I have been posting this series about tithing. Todays post is, tithing is...
God's Way of Providing for You
The sixth reason for pressing to the tithe and beyond is that it is God's way of providing you, the tither, sufficient money for your needs.
Giving is a way of having what you need. Giving in a regular, disciplined, generous way—up to and beyond the tithe—is simply good sense in view of the promises of God. Verse 6 says, "He who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully." Then verse 8 says, "God is able to make all grace abound to you that always having all sufficiency . . . " In other words the "bountiful reaping" promised in verse 6 is explained in verse 8 by God's pledge to give a sufficiency for us and an abundance for good deeds.
This seems to be Paul's way of expressing Malachi 3:10,
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.
This is an amazing challenge from God. Test me, he says. You think you can't afford to tithe? Well test me. And what we will find when we test him is that we cannot afford not to tithe—and beyond! This is the only safe way to handle our money. Jesus once said, in Luke 6:38,
Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap.
This is not a guarantee of getting rich. It's a guarantee of "an abundance for every good work" and sufficiency for yourself.
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