REPENTANCE
According to Mark 12:30-31 I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and my neighbor as I love myself!!!
Unthinking selfish and calloused hearted people won’t understand this but isn’t it interesting that God, when speaking to Israel, regarding the fact that they had turned away from Him, said that the way back into right relationship with Him (repentance) was returning to offering Him the tithe. Please see the following encounter.
“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse-your whole nation-because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house” (Malachi 3:8-10a New International Version).
WOW!!!
The Bible (God) says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’ (Matthew 6:21).
Does God really need our money? What is He really after? I am so glad you asked. God is more than self-sufficient. God told His people, “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it” (Psalm 50:9-12).
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters” (Psalm 24:1-2).
“‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty’ (Haggai 2:8)
So if God owns everything you ask, “Why does He want His people to tithe?” I am so glad you asked. HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH! WHAT HE WANTS IS YOUR LOVE IN RETURN. HE IS AFTER YOUR HEART. So you ask, “What does tithing have to do with your heart?” That’s right – – – I am so glad you asked. Remember Matthew 6:21? Well let’s take a look now at Deuteronomy 14:22-23 which says, “Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.” Tithing helps us to keep God first in all of our affairs. If gives Him first place in our lives. Whatever is first in your life is your God. When we give God the first of all of our income (all) this shows that He is first among all things in our lives. When done so with the right motives it proves that we reverence Him.
The New Living Translation says it this way, “You must set aside a tithe of your crops-one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year. Bring this tithe to the designated place of worship-the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored-and eat it there in his presence. This applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn males of your flocks and herds. Doing this will teach you always to fear the Lord your God.”
We are to be in awe of God, to have a holy reverence for Him. If you ever want to know what a person is like find out where his or her money is going. This will tell you all you need to know. What a person truly treasures he or she will spend their money on.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Does this mean that you don’t work hard and establish things for yourself here on earth? Of course you should acquire things here on earth too. But we must realize that everything on this side of heaven is temporary except those things accomplished for Christ. (THIS IS A GOOD PLACE TO HAVE A DISCUSSION FOR THOSE THINGS THAT ARE TEMPORARY AND THOSE THINGS THAT ARE ETERNAL.)
EXAMPLES:
Bob just scored 23,500 points to be on the all-time scoring list in such and such league. Is this good? Yes, so long as it was not done in a prideful way. But it is only temporary.
Susan just won her 10,000th soul to Christ. Is this good? It is more than just good. It is of God and for God. These people will spend eternity in heaven with God.
Look what God says further in Malachi. He says, “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 there will not be room enough to store it.I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty.”Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty” (Malachi 3:10b-12).
I LOVE YOU, WE LOVE YOU, JESUS LOVES YOU, AND GOD HAS AWESOME PLANS FOR YOU!!!