Deut 14:22 (NASB95)
In our church culture there seems to be two dirty words: STEWARDSHIP and TITHE! Neither of these words are dirty and each has an important place in the Christ Follower's life.
Stewardship is more than just giving money to the church. Stewardship in fact encompasses much more than what, how and how much we give. The definition of stewardship describes 3 spiritual realities. Stewardship means that God owns everything, we are entrusted to manage everything entrusted to us and our goal is to honor God in how we do it. Our stewardship is more than how we handle money. It is much more than giving 10%. It is honoring God with everything He has entrusted us with.
Now in saying that the passage for today does focus on our money. Correction: His money! God expects that we tithe from our financial blessings. These blessing are entrusted to us for His usefulness. I really don't think God is as concerned about us giving 10% as much as we are. We often say I gave my tithe so I'm good. Maybe, maybe not. Remember everything we have is His and we are expected to manage it. The Bible says that God expects that we will give a tithe, but He may also lead us to give more. Don't get caught up in percentages, because a closer examination of Scripture will show us that there were several different tithes that were expected.
So the challenge for the Christ Follower is to begin to look differently at the resources entrusted them.
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