To Be Least

Giving According to the Bible

Today I, the blogging teen, will address the issue of giving tithes and offerings to the church. Okay, lets start by taking a look at Malachi 3:8. **

Mal 3:8-12

"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 storehouse, 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 fruit," says the LORD Almighty. "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

Now lets take a close look at this, in this verse the Lord Almighty, of God, talks the nation of Israel through the prophet Malachi. He tells the Israelites that if the do give to him, he will bless them abundantly, and the nations will call them "blessed" because "yours will be a delightful land."

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2 Co 9:7

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

This one is rather simple in format and explanation, but is very important. God is saying that if a person should give, he should not do it just out of "compulsion" or "reluctance". In other words, he should be happy to give, and he should clearly want to give without anything persuading him or without any hesitation because of doubts.

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Lk 14:33

"In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."

In this quote from Jesus he is stating that unless you give up your worldly possessions, you can not become a disciple, or follower of Jesus. In other words, you must die to your selfish desires and human thoughts in order to truly follow him.

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Acts 20:35

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'

Paul here remembers "the words of Jesus himself," that it is better to give than to receive. This adds only onto the lists of reasons why we should be "cheerful" to give.

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There is much more to be said about the delicate subject of giving, however, I will end my talk with these last few scriptures.

Mat 6:3-4

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

What is meant by this is not that no one should know you are giving to the church or the poor, but that when you do give, it should be done humbly without pride. He goes on to talk of praying in public on which he addresses the same concept of complete humbleness.

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Well, the sun is setting, and the time has come when I must say goodnight and wish you a happy New Year!

**All scripture references taken from the New International Bible