There was no doubt in my mind which passage of Proverbs 11 would be my topic this 11th day of August:
Some give freely, yet grow all the richer;
others withhold what is due, and only suffer want.
A generous person will be enriched,
and one who gives water will get water. (Prov 11:24-25, NRSV)
There are any number of reasons—from psychological all the way to metaphysical—why this is eternally true. The more we give, the more flows into our lives. The more tightly we cling to what we have, the less room we leave in our lives for anything more to come in.
My freshman year in college, some dear friends of the family told me about their practice of tithing. I was touched by their dedication, so touched that I adopted the practice myself, and have been doing so ever since. Early in my career, even though I was giving away a tenth of my gross income (yes, I decided that for me, gross income made more sense than net income, although I invite you to use whatever calculation works for you), I always seemed to have enough. More than enough, in fact. I couldn’t possibly prove it, but I have always felt that I have experienced more prosperity in my life than my peers have, directly related to my self-imposed generosity in the form of tithing.
This has been a challenge for me in recent years, with zero personal income. I have wanted to give more, but I am still technically a tither. Ten percent of zero is still zero. As my business begins to pick up once more (thanks be to God), I know I shall begin to make positive contributions once more.
My fellow network marketing evangelist Randy Gage is also a fan of tithing, as I learned several years back at one of his events in Boston. And this needn’t be a religious obligation to be effective. In my own case, only a portion of my ten percent has gone to my faith community. We all have our favorite charities; let them be the beneficiaries of your largesse.
Quite frankly, it is less important whom you give to, than simply that you give. Be generous with your time, your talent, and your treasure. I guarantee you will receive many times over what you give away. That’s one immutable law of the universe that crosses all faith boundaries.
Try it. You’ll like it. And share your experiences with me (and with your fellow readers) below.
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Great article, thanks for sharing this. I have subscribed to your RSS feed and am looking forward to reading more from you.
Keep up the good work and don’t stop posting please.
The New Testament teaches generous, sacrificial giving, from the heart, according to our means. For some, $1 might be a sacrifice, while for others, even giving 50% of their income might not induce a sacrifice. In the Old Testament, ONLY the farmers tithed, and it was equal percentage (a tenth). The New Testament teaches the principle of equal sacrifice instead of equal percentage. Equal sacrifice is much harder to achieve than giving ten percent.
God gave His definition as a tenth of crops and animals which came from God’s hand, not man’s income. God NEVER commanded anyone to tithe on anything that man made or earned. Leviticus 27:30-33.
The ordinances (instructions, or laws) for The Lord’s Tithe are in Numbers 18. God gave strict orders to take His tithe to the Levites. God NEVER changed that command. Anyone who takes God’s tithe to anyone other than the Levites is being disobedient to God’s Word.
There are others tithes in the Bible such as the Festival Tithe and the Tithe for the Poor. It is The Lord’s Tithe that churches pattern their teaching after.
Church leaders ignore God’s definition of His tithe, and ignore God’s ordinances for His tithe. They change the words to fit their pocketbook. This is nothing but manipulation of God’s Word. They are false teachers.
The Bible CLEARLY SHOWS that the tithe ENDED at the cross in the Book of Hebrews. In the first nine verses of Hebrews 7 the words tenth or tithes appears SEVEN TIMES. The ONLY place in the Bible, after Calvary, that tithing appears is in Hebrews 7.
In Hebrews 7:5 we are told that Levi (the Levites) took the tithes under the law. In Hebrews 7:12 we are told that when the priesthood changes, the law will change. Hebrews 7:18 is telling us that Numbers 18 was disannulled. Numbers 18 established the Levitical priesthood, and part of that establishing included tithing. When the Levitical priesthood ended (at Calvary, or at least in the year 70AD when the temple was destroyed), all laws that established that priesthood were canceled. If Numbers 18 wasn’t canceled, we would still be under the Levitical priesthood.
Those who argue they didn’t have money or income then really need to study the scriptures. They had money and wages, even in Genesis. The farmers had income from barter exchanges, and they had markets to buy and sell as proven in Deuteronomy 14:24-26.
Those who argue Malachi 3:8, robbing God, need to start with verse 7. God is talking about His ordinances in Numbers 18 which we learned were disannulled according to Hebrews 7:18. Also, if you start with Malachi 1, you will see that God is speaking to the priests, not the people. The priests robbed God of the tithe (Nehemiah 13) and the priests robbed God of the offerings (Malachi 1).