DO THE RIGHT THING WHEN GIVING

BIBLE PASSAGE:
He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar
what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
(Luke 20:25)

MEDITATION:
Instead of saying to yourself,
    “Here we go again, another devotional about tithing”
take a moment and read through this devotional and see if the Lord
wants to speak to you personally in some way – His message to you
may not even be about tithing.

According to surveys, going to the dentist is the most stressful day for
most folks. Some people cringe at the sound of the words ‘root canal’
or ‘cavity’. The sound of the drills can be unsettling to those in the
waiting room.

Can you guess the second most stressful day? According to surveys, it
is April 15th (tax day). As this day gets nearer, folks can experience all
kinds of anxieties. They can worry about finding all of their records,
which type of forms need to be completed, will they be audited this time,
etc. Adding to their concerns is the tick, tick, tick of the deadline getting
closer.

If you received an audit letter from the IRS, how would you react?
Would you be anxious, depressed, filled with dread, etc.? You might
experience all of those emotions, plus some that aren’t listed. You can
become anxious when thinking about the results of an audit. You can
start analyzing the forms you completed to see if there is anything that
is incorrect which could cause you to have to pay a penalty.

Chances are that if you completed your forms honestly, then your
stress level will be much less than if you had some ‘gray areas’ that
the IRS may consider as a deliberate attempt to avoid paying taxes.

Jesus said,
    “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”
We could translate this as,
    “give to the IRS what is the IRS’s”
We may not agree with the tax structure in the same way that people
in biblical times did not agree with the definition of what is Caesar’s.
However, if we follow the instructions of Jesus, He told us to do the
right thing.

Then Jesus said to
    “give God what is God’s”
There is a glaring difference in ‘tax giving’ and ‘God giving’ isn’t there?
One is an obligation, and the other is an act of obedience from a heart
of love. The government is going to get what is theirs. Income tax will
be deducted from our pay; sales taxes are added to purchases; etc.

However, God does not send collection agents, nor does He have
a system to automatically collect what is His. His Word tells us to
‘do the right thing’ and He relies on our obedience out of our love
for Him. He gives us the Holy Spirit to convict us to ‘do the right
thing’ and guide us in developing the right spirit in order to receive
God’s blessings.

If God were to send us an audit letter, what feelings would we have?
The IRS may accuse us of fraud and require us to pay a penalty. But
God says we are ‘robbing Him’ through our disobedience of obeying
His command (not a suggestion) to tithe.
    “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
    “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
    “In tithes and offerings. You are under a
      curse—your whole nation—because you
      are robbing me.
    (Malachi 3:8-9)

Let that thought resonate with you for a moment. What fear would
it cause in you to hear our Heavenly Father say, “You robbed me!”?
What kind of excuse could you make for robbing your Creator? He
is the final judge of whether you robbed Him or not, so we cannot
make any excuses.

We might feel that we are doing all the other right things (loving
others, worshipping and praying, helping those in need, etc.),
but for whatever reason, we’ve decided to ignore God’s command
to bring our ‘whole’ tithe to Him.

Why would we choose to disobey this particular command? All of us
who know that God IS God, are aware that He does not ‘need’ us to
give. So, many may have this question,
    If God doesn’t need us to give,
    then why has He commanded us to give?

It would have to be that He gives us this opportunity to evaluate our
own level of obedience and trust in Him, wouldn’t you agree? It can
also help us determine our level of selfishness.

At the same time, tithing can be one of the keys that
unlocks the door to many additional blessings from God.
    Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there
    may be food in my house. 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)

We need to remember that God’s blessings may not be in the
form of money. God can bless us in so many non-financial ways.
    I will prevent pests from devouring your crops,
    and the vines in your fields will not drop their
    fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty.
    “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for
    yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD
    Almighty.
    (Malachi 3:11-12)

ACTION:
Two guidelines we are given about tithing are:
1. Give our full tithe (in other words we should be tithing
    on our gross income, and not our net, even though some
    may claim their net pay is the only spendable money they
    receive). If we can trust God by tithing on our net, doesn’t
    it make sense that we show a greater faith and trust in God
    when we bring our ‘full tithe’?

2. We need ‘joyfully’ bring our tithes to the Lord. Why?
     Because we know that…
         (1) we have defeated Satan’s attempts to cause us to rob God.
         (2) we are obediently contributing to God’s earthly ministry.
         (3) we can anticipate additional blessings from God for our
                faith, trust, and obedience to His command to tithe.

Some day we will have to give an account for our obedience.
Will you be able to say,
    “I gave to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s”
Or will you also be able to say,
    “I did not give to God reluctantly, I gave out of my love for Him”

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, forgive me if I have been robbing
You through my disobedience to Your commands.
Thank You for giving me a greater understanding about
Your command to tithe. Help me overcome my selfish
thoughts that what I earn belongs to me. Remind me that
You have given me the skills and talents to earn what I
receive. Suppress the sinful thoughts that Satan tries to
plant in my mind about reluctantly obeying Your command.
Give me thoughts of joy as I bring my ‘full tithe’, so I will not
be robbing You of any portion of what belongs to You. Teach
me to have a joyful attitude when I obey Your command to tithe.”

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