INVESTING TIME AND TREASURE
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
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.
Deuteronomy 14:23 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
What is the big deal about tithing?
Some people will say that tithing was an Old Testament concept and because we are living under grace in the New Testament, we don’t have to obey the law of tithing. The logic of that argument is very weak because it forgets that under grace we are motivated to do more not less.
Under the law we were told not to have sexual relationships outside of marriage. Under grace we are taught that even looking lustfully at a woman makes you guilty of breaking the law.
We tithe out of obedience to God. It is a recognition that God owns everything and therefore He has the right to determine what we do with what He gives us.
We also tithe to bring our hearts closer to God. In Matthew 6:21 we learn that where our treasure is our heart will be also. When we give our treasure to the work of God our heart will be in the work of God.
If you look at where you spend your money you will discover what is most important to you. Everyone has two things that reveal the position of their heart—our time and our money. What we do with our time and our money reveals the position of our heart.
If we say that God is Lord of our life, yet we only give Him the leftovers of our time and money then He is not truly Lord of our life. We may claim not to have time to spend with God but in reality, we always have time for whatever is really important to us.
I know guys who love to fish. They will be up at a ridiculous hour in the morning to go fishing because they love to fish. On another day they must get dragged out of bed at 8:00 or 8:30. But on a fishing day that are dressed and loaded up by 5:30. Their actions tell me they love to fish. (The same can be true of hunting, golf, shopping, or anything.)
Where are you putting your treasure? Your heart will find your treasure.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Holy Spirit please help me to be faithful with God’s tithe. Help me to keep my heart in the right place my investing my time and treasure in Your work.
“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”
God I will always put you first .