Giving - Malachi 3:8-9

Malachi 3:8-9 (ESV)

[8] Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. [9] You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

The tithe was a part of the Mosaic law, but the concept precedes Moses. Abraham paid a tithe to Melchizedek long before Moses’s law was written (Gen. 14:20). It is a way of honoring God and recognizing that truthfully, he owns all that we possess. The New Testament principle is less specific. We are to give with the right heart motive. Each believer is to give “as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). The New Testament principle is to give bountifully, willingly, and cheerfully. With that in mind, let me suggest that giving a tithe (a tenth) is a good beginning place, not a goal. Tithing is an act of faith. It indicates that all you have belongs to God and that you trust him to care for and provide for you. The context of Malachi 3:8-9 is God’s command to return to him. In response to the question of how that is done God challenges them to stop robbing him. How have they robbed God? By failing to give their tithe to him. If tithing is an act of submission and faith, that’s the place to start. This Christmas, even as we are giving and receiving gifts, let us remember that God is the source of all that we have. May we honor him by living and by giving in a manner that glorifies God.