ICS Daily Devotions
Give the firstfruits to God
Hebrews 7:6-7 But he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better.
Since Abraham gave a tenth before the Mosaic law was enacted, the principle remains for us to follow today. We need to have this perspective that God owns everything on earth because the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. All that we eat, the raw materials that produce the products that we manufacture, the world commodities including the most expensive rare earth of today, including everything that we behold with our eyes belong to God who created everything. Every company that we work for draws something from God’s creation in order for the company to be successful and keep us on the job. Therefore, God is the one who provides us with the job!
What we have noticed here in the verses is that it describes a practice which showed how those who were lesser, honored those who were greater. The particular practice in mind is honoring the greater with the tithe. The term tithe simply means a tenth part of the whole. The concept of tithing was not new to man prior to the law of Moses. Even pagan cultures practiced it to some degree. In our text in Hebrews we find that Abraham practiced tithing as it related to Melchizedek. He gave a tenth of the spoils he got as a result from defeating the kings in battle. Tithe literally means the tenth part or the payment of a tenth part. It represents ten percent of a person’s income or increase from sales of assets, investment and company profit.
Prov 3:9-10 Honor the LORD with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.
Every time when we are blessed, be it the first bonus, the first contract, the first payout of dividends, shares and etc., we should honor God with the ten percent. When we choose to honor God then it says that our barns will be filled with plenty and vats overflow with new wine. God is always giving, therefore nobody is really able to out-give God.
Should we be tithing to the church or have the right to give to a designated project of my own so that I will know where it goes and I will determine what is right? While all these discussion sounds godly and theological, it boils down to one thing, the issue of the heart. The heart is deceitful above all things because it is the struggle of the heart regarding something that we love and hold dear to our hearts that causes us to find all kinds of excuses and theological arguments to cover it up.
Our giving is closely tied to our hearts; it shows forth how much we trust the Lord and man. The measure that we give reflects our faith, our love and our stewardship. As Jesus said, the love of money is the root of all evil because money is neutral. Jesus is always dealing with the root issue, the issue of the heart, including the sentence “sell all you have and follow me”. Jesus knew that the rich young ruler could not make the decision because he had much riches. The rich young man could no part with his riches and that is the root issue: his security and foundation was in money.
We need to come to a point of obedience and act on what the Word of God says. It means to honor God with our tithing and the firstfruits of all our increase. Honoring God with our tithe put our faith and dependence on God so that we will have a solid foundation in our lives regardless whether the economy or our finances are in a good or bad state.
Series: Blessed by God
