The Bible tells us to give God our first fruits.
My hubby and I were discussing our church’s financial issues recently, along with the idea of tithing. The idea of ten percent comes from the Old Testament in Leviticus and Numbers and has to do with taking care of the priests. In the New Testament, not surprisingly, Jesus tells them to give generously to all who are in need.
I love this about Jesus. He wasn’t bound by a mere number. He liked to raise the bar on the human heart. He wasn’t nearly as interested in the legalistic as he was in matters of the heart. He was more impressed by the poor widow who only had two coins to drop in the offering plate, than the rich man who gave the prescribed amount.
Our conversation turned away from actual money, but to physical and spiritual tithing. How much of our actual time do we give to the church? Is it even close to ten percent? How about spiritually? How much time each day do we spend in prayer or Bible study? How much time do we spend growing our faith? Is it at the top of the list everyday or do we fall into bed at the end of the day and say a quick bedtime prayer as we fall asleep?
God’s feelings about our gifts to Him are made clear in the Cain and Abel story. He accepted Abel’s sacrifice because it was the best of what he had grown, the first fruits. Cain only brought, “some” of what he had, not his best. I wonder if we are doing much better than Cain? Are we giving God our first thoughts and steps of the day? Does our service to our church community find itself first on our to do list, or do we wait sometime til Saturday night to even think about church? Do we go an entire week without talking to God?
I was reading in a recent Bible study where Paul was fussing at the Hebrews. “You have been believers so long now, that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.” Hebrews 5:12
Has our modern society with limitless amounts of information at our fingertips, really decided that we simply can’t understand the Bible, so we wait until Sunday mornings and limit our learning to one hour? I feel like that probably does not qualify as first fruits.
The more I learn about the Christians being persecuted in Iran and Iraq, the more I feel like we need to get back to giving God our first fruits. The world is in turmoil. I think that we not only need to pray; we need to read God’s Book and get really grounded in what we believe. We need to give our time as much as our money to causes close to the heart of Jesus. The church definitely qualifies.
I heard Joyce Meyer say one time, “As a Christian, when you get up in the morning and your feet hit the floor, hell should shake with fear.” We have been given that kind of power. What we do with it, is up to us.
What’s your take on physical and spiritual tithing? I’d love to hear from you.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂