DWJL511
Member
Sometime in the late nineties, I had what I like to call a “personal spiritual revival.” Due to an unfortunate event, I actually came to be “on fire for God,” and there was a great peace. The flowers looked more colorful, the trees were greener, even the setting sun and darkening skies could make me smile. I was also baptized in the Spirit, and spoke in tongues to praise God for His wonderful creation.
In that season, something was birthed in my heart. As the Bible says, God can work new desires into your heart (Philippians 2:13). I started having a desire to give a portion of my modest income to God—not once off, but regularly.
I was attending a traditional Methodist church then and all I knew about giving regularly (besides Sunday offerings) was the “pledge.” My father had been pledging some of his income or pension to the church annually. I wanted to do the same. No one put a gun to my head. And I didn’t think God would curse me if I didn’t.
Then, I heard a cassette-tape sermon by a pastor who is now my pastor. He taught on tithing (something he rarely does)—not under law and obligation, but under grace and revelation. It all clicked. That desire in my heart was fleshed out with words and scriptures. It was a confirmation that I was on the right track, and as they say, the rest is history.
Today, many years, and tithes, later, I have grown in my understanding of tithing, and that’s what I want to talk about. Just what is tithing?
First off, many Christians say that tithing is obsolete because the Old Testament folks tithed grains, seeds, wine, oil, fruits and flocks, and not dollars and cents. If you bring up the case of Abraham, they will likewise say that if you want to follow Abraham’s example, you will have to fight a war and make sure you win so you can tithe on the spoils.
I find these arguments rather silly. It’s like saying if you want to preach today the right way to do it is to use your bare voice and a donkey, and not any of the modern technologies—public address systems, radio, television, the Internet, and land and air transportation systems—since they didn’t use these things back in Bible days. Or, if you want to get baptized in the Spirit, then you must like the early disciples go to Jerusalem and tarry there, until Pentecost is fully come!
Tithing is really not that difficult to understand and appreciate, once you understand a certain economic principle that God has. And the principle is this:
If you set apart unto God (that is what it means to “make holy”) a firstfruits (first or best pickings) portion of your “harvest” (whatever that may be in modern times), your entire “harvest” is also sanctified or made holy. In other words, Offering just the firstfruits is equivalent to offering the entire harvest.
This principle is inherent in the tithe too. If you tithe just 10% of the increase you have to God, you have in effect given your entire increase (all 100% of it) to God. The entire batch or lump becomes holy just because of the tithe. Like the firstfruits, The tithe or 10% is a representative of the whole.
Let me make this clearer with a simple illustration.
Let’s say you have 100 shirts to give to an orphanage. According the world’s economic principles, if you want to give all your shirts to the orphanage, you would have to give all 100 shirts. Simple Math. But according to God’s economic principle of the tithe, giving just 10 shirts (10%) is as good as giving all 100 shirts (100%). As far as God is concerned, in giving just 10% you have given everything.
I mentioned earlier that the entire batch or the 100% becomes holy (or set apart unto God) just through the offering of the firstfruits or the tithe. What’s the benefit of the entire batch becoming holy? Well, what’s set apart unto God is blessed and protected by God. So if you tithe 10% of your income to God, He blesses and protects the rest. Despite having 10% less after tithing, I have always had enough at the end of the month. All these years, I have never lacked. There are other benefits of tithing too, like how it helps us break the hold or love of money—the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). If you don’t want your children to grow up loving money, then get them to tithe from a young age, or as soon as they start earning.
Once you understand God’s principle of the tithe—how the tenth represents the whole or how it is “one for all, all for one”—you will see that this principle is also inherent in other well-known Bible doctrines and stories, since it is a divine principle that never goes out of style. Here are a few examples:
There are other examples, but I think you get the point.
When you understand the principle of the tithe and see how it is used throughout Scripture, you will begin to understand how it can also apply to various aspects of your walk with God.
Do you want all 24 hours of your day to be made holy and blessed by the Lord? Then give the first pickings—the first few minutes or moments of the day—to the Lord. That’s why we do morning devotions or “quiet time.” You’ll find that the rest of your day goes smoother, even if you face challenges.
If you want your entire week sanctified and blessed as well, then set apart one day, such as Sunday, for the Lord. Yes, go to church and worship Him, and He will bless the rest of your week.
Now we come to the touchy part—tithing on our salaries.
Many Christians like to say, “Lord, all that I have is Yours. I give You everything!”
While the first statement is true since He gave us life and holds our breath in His hand, the second statement is rather absurd, an impossibility, naturally speaking.
You can’t give ALL of your money to the Lord. How are you going to pay the bills or put food on the table for your children? Who’s going to pay the rent and taxes? It’s just not practical or feasible.
God understands this, and He is a very practical God. He says, “If you really want to give Me ‘everything,’ here’s how you can still do it: give a tenth to Me and you’ve given everything to Me.”
Simply give a tenth of your salary, and you’ve given it all to Him. You’ll also find that the remaining 90% goes a longer way than if you had kept it all for yourself.
So that’s the principle of the tithe. Once you grasp it, you won’t miss the forest for the trees. You won’t split hairs and get caught up in details—“It’s agricultural produce, not money!”—and miss the big picture, with all its blessings.
In that season, something was birthed in my heart. As the Bible says, God can work new desires into your heart (Philippians 2:13). I started having a desire to give a portion of my modest income to God—not once off, but regularly.
I was attending a traditional Methodist church then and all I knew about giving regularly (besides Sunday offerings) was the “pledge.” My father had been pledging some of his income or pension to the church annually. I wanted to do the same. No one put a gun to my head. And I didn’t think God would curse me if I didn’t.
Then, I heard a cassette-tape sermon by a pastor who is now my pastor. He taught on tithing (something he rarely does)—not under law and obligation, but under grace and revelation. It all clicked. That desire in my heart was fleshed out with words and scriptures. It was a confirmation that I was on the right track, and as they say, the rest is history.
Today, many years, and tithes, later, I have grown in my understanding of tithing, and that’s what I want to talk about. Just what is tithing?
First off, many Christians say that tithing is obsolete because the Old Testament folks tithed grains, seeds, wine, oil, fruits and flocks, and not dollars and cents. If you bring up the case of Abraham, they will likewise say that if you want to follow Abraham’s example, you will have to fight a war and make sure you win so you can tithe on the spoils.
I find these arguments rather silly. It’s like saying if you want to preach today the right way to do it is to use your bare voice and a donkey, and not any of the modern technologies—public address systems, radio, television, the Internet, and land and air transportation systems—since they didn’t use these things back in Bible days. Or, if you want to get baptized in the Spirit, then you must like the early disciples go to Jerusalem and tarry there, until Pentecost is fully come!
Tithing is really not that difficult to understand and appreciate, once you understand a certain economic principle that God has. And the principle is this:
Romans 11:16, NIV
If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy…
If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy…
If you set apart unto God (that is what it means to “make holy”) a firstfruits (first or best pickings) portion of your “harvest” (whatever that may be in modern times), your entire “harvest” is also sanctified or made holy. In other words, Offering just the firstfruits is equivalent to offering the entire harvest.
This principle is inherent in the tithe too. If you tithe just 10% of the increase you have to God, you have in effect given your entire increase (all 100% of it) to God. The entire batch or lump becomes holy just because of the tithe. Like the firstfruits, The tithe or 10% is a representative of the whole.
Let me make this clearer with a simple illustration.
Let’s say you have 100 shirts to give to an orphanage. According the world’s economic principles, if you want to give all your shirts to the orphanage, you would have to give all 100 shirts. Simple Math. But according to God’s economic principle of the tithe, giving just 10 shirts (10%) is as good as giving all 100 shirts (100%). As far as God is concerned, in giving just 10% you have given everything.
I mentioned earlier that the entire batch or the 100% becomes holy (or set apart unto God) just through the offering of the firstfruits or the tithe. What’s the benefit of the entire batch becoming holy? Well, what’s set apart unto God is blessed and protected by God. So if you tithe 10% of your income to God, He blesses and protects the rest. Despite having 10% less after tithing, I have always had enough at the end of the month. All these years, I have never lacked. There are other benefits of tithing too, like how it helps us break the hold or love of money—the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). If you don’t want your children to grow up loving money, then get them to tithe from a young age, or as soon as they start earning.
Once you understand God’s principle of the tithe—how the tenth represents the whole or how it is “one for all, all for one”—you will see that this principle is also inherent in other well-known Bible doctrines and stories, since it is a divine principle that never goes out of style. Here are a few examples:
• If you break just 1 commandment (10%) out of the 10 commandments, as far as God is concerned, you have broken ALL 10 (James 2:10).
• The Holy Spirit convicts people of just 1 sin—the sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (John 16:9). But if you repent of just this 1 sin and believe in Jesus, you are justified not just from this 1 sin but also from ALL sins of your entire life (Acts 13:39). One for all, all for one!
• In his negotiation with the Lord to not destroy the city of Sodom, Abraham went from 50 righteous men all the way down to just 10 righteous men, to which the Lord said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of TEN” (Genesis 18:32). Just 10 righteous men, symbolic of the 10%, were enough for the Lord to spare ALL the other men of the city!
• Abraham’s servant, who was tasked to look for a bride for Isaac, took just 10 of his master’s camels along with him, yet the Bible tells us this: “for ALL his master’s goods were in his hand” (Genesis 24:10). The servant didn’t need to bring along everything, just 10 camels symbolic of the 10%, and that was enough to show others that his master had entrusted ALL his goods to him.
• ALL the Israelites had to wander in the desert because of the evil report of the 10 spies, who were symbolic of the 10% (Numbers 14:34–35). Once more, we see how the 10% represents ALL. The fate of the ENTIRE nation for the next forty years was determined by the faithless 10.
• The Holy Spirit convicts people of just 1 sin—the sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (John 16:9). But if you repent of just this 1 sin and believe in Jesus, you are justified not just from this 1 sin but also from ALL sins of your entire life (Acts 13:39). One for all, all for one!
• In his negotiation with the Lord to not destroy the city of Sodom, Abraham went from 50 righteous men all the way down to just 10 righteous men, to which the Lord said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of TEN” (Genesis 18:32). Just 10 righteous men, symbolic of the 10%, were enough for the Lord to spare ALL the other men of the city!
• Abraham’s servant, who was tasked to look for a bride for Isaac, took just 10 of his master’s camels along with him, yet the Bible tells us this: “for ALL his master’s goods were in his hand” (Genesis 24:10). The servant didn’t need to bring along everything, just 10 camels symbolic of the 10%, and that was enough to show others that his master had entrusted ALL his goods to him.
• ALL the Israelites had to wander in the desert because of the evil report of the 10 spies, who were symbolic of the 10% (Numbers 14:34–35). Once more, we see how the 10% represents ALL. The fate of the ENTIRE nation for the next forty years was determined by the faithless 10.
There are other examples, but I think you get the point.
When you understand the principle of the tithe and see how it is used throughout Scripture, you will begin to understand how it can also apply to various aspects of your walk with God.
Do you want all 24 hours of your day to be made holy and blessed by the Lord? Then give the first pickings—the first few minutes or moments of the day—to the Lord. That’s why we do morning devotions or “quiet time.” You’ll find that the rest of your day goes smoother, even if you face challenges.
If you want your entire week sanctified and blessed as well, then set apart one day, such as Sunday, for the Lord. Yes, go to church and worship Him, and He will bless the rest of your week.
Now we come to the touchy part—tithing on our salaries.
Many Christians like to say, “Lord, all that I have is Yours. I give You everything!”
While the first statement is true since He gave us life and holds our breath in His hand, the second statement is rather absurd, an impossibility, naturally speaking.
You can’t give ALL of your money to the Lord. How are you going to pay the bills or put food on the table for your children? Who’s going to pay the rent and taxes? It’s just not practical or feasible.
God understands this, and He is a very practical God. He says, “If you really want to give Me ‘everything,’ here’s how you can still do it: give a tenth to Me and you’ve given everything to Me.”
Simply give a tenth of your salary, and you’ve given it all to Him. You’ll also find that the remaining 90% goes a longer way than if you had kept it all for yourself.
So that’s the principle of the tithe. Once you grasp it, you won’t miss the forest for the trees. You won’t split hairs and get caught up in details—“It’s agricultural produce, not money!”—and miss the big picture, with all its blessings.
Thank you!
