Are You Cheating God?

The subject of ‘money’ and its implications are somehow misunderstood by many of us. It is like, when a friend or family member borrows money from us or when we borrow money from our friends or family members, the resulting situations in many cases, are not at all conducive to nurturing further relationships. Money has this uncanny knack of playing spoil-sport! Or as the saying goes, “the root of all evil”! The same can be said about “Tithe” or “Tithing”. This Biblical command is grossly misunderstood or in many instances, the real intention twisted to satisfy personal whims and fancies. This can be attributed to the two schools of thought that have emerged in the modern day church on the above subject. One section opines that we should continue to ‘tithe’ as intended in the scriptures, as it is a blessing and joy to give back to the Lord, while the other school of thought suggests that, as Jesus died on the cross for our transgressions and created the new covenant between God and man, there is no need for us in the modern day church, to set aside ten percent of our incomes for the church. No straight thinking Christian would ever disagree to that, yes, Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sins and made it possible for us to directly commune with God through Him. But what happens to the works of the church and expansion of His kingdom? How are the Pastor and the ministry of the church going to survive without a regular income coming into the church? Tithing ensures this. We tend to confuse tithes with voluntary contribution. But when we look closely at the scriptures, there is distinct difference between the two! We can tithe regularly and still voluntarily contribute to the church, but it is not the other way around. Saying that we are voluntarily giving to the church and trying to escape tithing is blatant cheating on our part! Let us look at what the scriptures have to say about tithing –

Malachi 3:8-12 says: - “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ ‘In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the warehouse, 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 you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruits,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land’, says the Lord Almighty.”