Be a Channel of His Blessings
ICS Daily Devotions
Proverbs 3:9-10 (NKJV) Honour 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.
Do you struggle to tithe because you think that doing so will leave you with less? Wrong beliefs cause wrong thinking. They stop us from being used by God as a channel of His blessings to the church and the world mission. God promised us through His Word that if we honour Him with our possessions, He will bless us, and in turn, we can tithe more and sow in freewill offerings to the world mission.
God has appointed mortal men to receive His tithes. Just like Levi’s in the Old Testament received tithes, church pastors now receive tithes on God’s behalf. Nonetheless, the tithes are paid unto the Lord, as Scripture says that Jesus receives them in heaven as our High Priest. The difference is that it is no longer a temple, but a church made of living stones and Jesus as the cornerstone.
Like the people of the Old Testament who depended on God’s faithfulness and provision, the church today relies on God’s provision and blessings. In fact, the church today bears a greater responsibility than the priests of the Old Testament because New Testament believers have been commissioned to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. If Jesus has commissioned the church to preach the gospel, He will fund it by using believers as a channel of His blessings to provide the necessary resources to support church operations, outreach, and mission programs, and He finances these efforts through tithing and freewill offerings.
The difference between tithing and freewill offering is that tithing is a payment required by the Lord for the twofold purposes of practical and spiritual, whereas freewill offering is left to our own decisions and based on our conviction of the Holy Spirit. It is giving above the tithe amount. Throughout our lives, we will have opportunities to respond to God’s leading to give freewill offerings. At times, it will be a test of our willingness and obedience to do what He desires so that we are proven to be faithful, dependable, willing channels of His blessings.
Exodus 35:29 (NKJV) The children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the Lord, all the men and women whose hearts were willing to bring material for all kinds of work which the Lord, by the hand of Moses, had commanded to be done.
After the Israelites left Egypt, their greatest challenge was to get “Egypt” out of their hearts. Similarly, our challenge is to remove the worship of mammon from our hearts. The children of Israel practised bringing freewill offerings to the Lord to build the tabernacle. They came with willing hearts to offer various materials for the work entrusted to Moses, their leader. They could bring anything, as long as it came from a willing heart. Likewise, we are expected to give freewill offerings for the development of the church and the preaching of the gospel outside the church.
Sermon Series： Christian Generosity
