The Word To Live By: 7-9-26
Phil Waggoner
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:10-11
The Word To Live By: We are talking about building an armada of scriptures and the tools the Bible gives us to build our lives with. We are looking at Proverbs 3 and have found that the flagship of our armada is faith. Verses 5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” The tools that come from faith are kindness and truth. The next tools I see are in verse 7, “Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.” Humility and respect and honor for God in our everyday life are some of the most powerful tools we can use to build our lives on. And as verse 8 says, “it will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.” The next tool is verse 9, “Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce.” Plainly put it means give the first 10 percent (tithe means 10 percent) of your increase to God. (If it costs you $1.00 to earn $2.00 your tithe is $.10.) I know the arguments against tithing. It’s Old Testament and we’re not under the law; it’s giving to get; Jesus didn’t tithe, and a lot of others that people make up in their minds to hang on to their money. First of all, it’s all over the New Testament. I will admit it is not a requirement, but it’s about the posture of your heart and how you feel about what God has given to you. It’s intentional, thoughtful, and rooted in your relationship with God. In the New Testament, tithing becomes an expression of trust, surrender, and alignment with God’s purposes. Giving money is closely tied to the heart. Jesus Himself says in Matthew 6:21 that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. My money is not where I want my heart to be, so before I do anything else, I give cheerfully the first 10% of it to our church. That is the main storehouse where my wife and I are fed. I know that they are teaching and supporting the work of God with my money. Tithing in the New Testament is about making it possible to spread the Gospel a lot farther than I am capable of doing on my own. I don’t do it so that the windows of heaven are opened and a blessing I can’t contain is poured out on me. I don’t do it so that God rebukes the devourer or so that I will bear fruit, but that happens, consistently. (It’s the fruit of the seed.) To me, next to the words of my mouth, tithing is the most valuable tool on the deck of my armada. I’ll close with verse 11 because it answers the question of why God tells you to do anything. “So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.” Because He wants to bless you.
Read through the Bible in a year: Mark 15:21-47; 1 Kings 11; Hosea 13;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 10, Matthew 5:25-48, Acts 10:
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160