Giving and Tithing from CBN.com
As Pat Robertson stated in his book, The Secret Kingdom, Christ’s admonition to “give and it will be given to you” defines a remarkable spiritual principle. It can also be called the law of reciprocity, which is quite evident in the physical world: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Smile at another person, and he’ll probably smile back at you. Be critical of others, and they’ll respond in kind. As you give, you will receive. Give generously, and you’ll receive in like measure.
Why Should We Tithe?
Since God owns everything — “the cattle on a thousand hills” and all there is — it might seem that He doesn’t really need our tithes and offerings. He doesn’t need them, true, but we need to give them. For, in instructing us to tithe, God is helping us to understand the law of reciprocity.
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In addition, failure to tithe means we are actually robbing God of what is due Him. In Malachi 3:8-9, God spells out the results when the nation of Israel does not repay Him what they owe:
“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse — the whole nation of you — because you are robbing me.”
When we tithe, we receive many blessings from God.
“Give,and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap” (Luke 6:38).
And what blessings were promised to the people of Israel, if they would once again tithe!
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.Test and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the Lord Almighty (Malachi 3:10-12).
We are also told that when we give to others, we give to God:
“He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done” (Proverbs 19:17).