“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.’ Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.” -Genesis 14:18-20
What is tithing? Many people might argue that tithing is outdated, that it is an “old-fashioned” idea. But is it? Why did God want His people to tithe?
In Hebrew, the word “tithe” actually means 10%. Tithing is giving 10% of all our “increase” (what we get paid) to God as an act of worship to Him. We do this for various reasons – most of which are beneficial to us versus God. God doesn’t need our money, but He does want our obedience. Tithing is an act of worship meaning we agree that everything we have is His. We are managers of all that is entrusted to us. What we have is because of His goodness.
Craig Hill, founder of Family Foundations and author of several bestselling books on money cites the following 7 reasons why he believes each of us should employ the practice of tithing as a part of our worship to God:
- It builds faith in our hearts for God as our Source of provision
- It breaks the power of greed: “money managing me” vs. “me managing it”
- It breaks the power of fear of lack
- It establishes discipline
- It distinguishes between the Source of provision and channel of provision
- It provides support to kingdom activities
- It qualifies us to be trusted with more of God’s resources
Where should we tithe? Malachi 3:10 talks about bringing the whole tithe “into the storehouse.” Since we don’t have physical storehouses today, we can relate a storehouse to a place where we are being spiritually fed. More that likely this is a local church, but could be more than one place.
Have you employed the practice of tithing? Pray and ask God how you might incorporate the practice of tithing into your life. “Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” -Malachi 3:10
