I don't usually tithe. Not because I don't want to but because I don't usually have any money in my wallet (or anywhere for that matter). When I sell cards or make money some other way I tithe but that doesn't happen very often. In Malachi 3:10 God actually says we should test Him in this "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," (emphasis added) Says the Lord of hosts, If I will not open for you the windows of heaven, And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it." Well, this past Sunday I had money in my wallet and I felt led to give it as an offering. Even my dollar that I knew I would need yesterday to get out of the parking garage at TMH after my doc appt. I had to admit, I was very excited to see how God would provide my buck for parking. I knew He would because I trust Him. So, yesterday after lunch I was cleaning up the kitchen and I was going through some papers and wouldn't you know there was one dollar there. I smiled, said "Thank you God" and put it in my purse. Granted it wasn't a windfall but it was what I need at that very moment. I have noticed God works that way a lot in my life . . .
Bonus post :) Yesterday hubby worked late so as a treat I took the kids for ice cream. Nature Girl - vanilla yogurt with cookie dough in a cup; Little Mama - rainbow ice cream in a cone which turns her whole face blue (wish I would have had a camera) and Boop - psychedelic sorbet in a cup (can't have milk). Anyway, they loved it. That is something they usually do with a grandma or Sissy. We decided to bring some to daddy who was working security at a local bridge engineering firm. After daddy finished his ice cream - vanilla yogurt with hot fudge - he decided to give us an impromptu history lesson. The buildings that the firm owned were all old historic city homes. One had been a governor's mansion in the late 1800s and was for lease. It was beautiful. Nature Girl wanted to know if we could live there. To be honest, I wanted to live there too. The home had a wrap around porch and big portrait windows, all hardwood floors . . . . According to the Internet, the other home was built by a free negro back in the 1800s for a judge. The firm had landscaped the backyard and the kids ran around the "shrub maze." We stayed until dusk. All the while the kids asked about the houses and the pictures inside of the bridges the firm had designed. Some day when the kids are a little older we will take a field trip to the firm so they can learn more about the bridges designed there . . . .
1 comment:
Friend, May I offer an alternative interpretation of Malachi for your study.
From: Tithing is not a Christian Doctrine
www.shouldthechurchteachtithing.com
Russell Earl Kelly, PHD
Malachi 3 is the Most Abused Tithing Text in the Bible. The “whole” tithe never was supposed to go to the Temple!
A. Malachi is Old Covenant and is never quoted in the New Covenant to validate tithing (Lev. 27:34; Neh. 10:28-29; Mal. 3:7; 4:4).
B. In Malachi 3:10-11 tithes are still only food 1000 years after Leviticus 27:30-34 and Numbers 18:21-28.
C. Malachi’s audience had willingly reaffirmed the Old Covenant (Neh.10:28-29). The blessings and curses of tithing are identical to and inseparable from those of the entire Mosaic Law. The rain in Deuteronomy 28:12, 23-24 and Leviticus 26:1-4 is only obtained by obedience to all 613 commandments. Galatians 3:10 (quoting Deu 27:26) “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Trying to earn God’s blessings through tithing only brings curses for failure to keep all of the law. See also Galatians 3:19.
D. Beginning in 1:6 “you” in Malachi always refers to the dishonest priests and not the people (also 2:1-10; 2:13 to 3:1-5): “Even this whole nation of you --priests” (3:9). In 1:13-14 the priests had stolen tithed animals vowed to God. In Nehemiah 13:5-10 priests had stolen the Levites’ portion of the tithe. God’s curses on the priests are ignored by most tithe-teachers (1:14; 2:2 and 3:2-4).
E. Point #12 of the essay. The Levitical cities must be included in a correct interpretation of Malachi 3:10. Most tithe-recipients lived outside of Jerusalem.
F. The 24 courses of Levites and priests must be included in a correct interpretation of Malachi 3. Normally only 2% of the total Levite and priest work force served at the temple one week at a time. Subtract wives, males under the age of 30 and daughters. Therefore 2% did not require all of the tithe. See 1 Chron 23-26; 28:13, 21; 2 Chron. 8:14; 23:8; 31:2, 15-19; 35:4, 5, 10; Ezra 6:18; Neh. 11:19, 30; 12:24; 13:9, 10; Luke 1:5.
G. Nehemiah 10:37-39 is the key to understanding Malachi 3:10, The people were commanded to bring their tithes, not to the temple, but to the nearby Levitical cities. Verse 38 says that the priests were with the Levites in the Levitical cities when they received the tithes.
H. According to Nehemiah 13:5, 9 the “storehouse” in the Temple was only several rooms. The real “storehouses” were in the Levitical cites per Nehemiah 10:37b-38. Only the Levites and priests normally brought tithes to the Temple (10:38). Two rooms in the Temple were far too small to contain the tithe from the entire nation and 98% of the Levites and priests lived too far away to eat from them.
Therefore, Malachi 3:10’s “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse” only makes contextual sense if it is only commanding dishonest priests to replace the tithes they had removed from it or had failed to bring to it.
While the 3:10 of the Law in Malachi is so important to tithe-teachers they ignore the 3:10 of the Gospel in Galatians and 2nd Corinthians. Perhaps those wanting to enforce the 3:10 Law of Malachi should also enforce the 3:10 Law of Numbers. They share the same context.
Christian giving is freewill, sacrificial, generous, joyful, regular and motivated by love. That is enough to provide the needs of the Church.
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