TITHING, AN ESSENTIAL

 By Michael Lawrence

I want to share some thoughts that I seem to have been given lately about tithing—the giving of a tenth of our increase, by faith, to God. In doing so, it is not my intention to downplay any other aspect of a faith relationship with our God or the other related ways He often subsequently chooses to employ in His ultimate goal to build in us a character imaging that of His Son.

…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it (Philippians 1:6a).

According to my understanding of things, it is God who initiates a covenant relationship with us, giving us His faith in order that we can believe, begin to worship Him, see His invisible kingdom—even enter and partake of that secret kingdom. Using patterns in Scripture, He also grants us wisdom to understand ways to worship.

The way I see it, the tithe is an essential form of pure worship—believing God, holding Him in reverential awe—a demonstration of a genuine perception of our dependency upon and a proper fear of our God, the God of the Bible.

I have a strong desire not to overstate things here. Even so, I have come to see that the tithe is key to just how deep our covenant relationship with God may go. The reason it is key has to do with money and what it is used for in our daily lives.

Quite a few years ago, the noted behavioral scientist, Maslow, developed his “Hierarchy of Needs Theory.” In it he contends that our elemental needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and freedom from harm must be met before we can become able to pursue our higher needs. 

John’s gospel account of the miracle feeding of five thousand and what followed comes to mind here. Jesus was forced to flee the crowd before they took Him by force and made Him king. What Jesus says to them when they caught up to Him the next day is quite telling—

Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs (miracles), but because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26).     

Money is the medium of exchange that we now use to feed, clothe, shelter, and protect ourselves. It’s what we use to meet those threshold needs of Maslow’s theory.

I contend that in the same manner, God has designed things so that the genuine faith tithe becomes the threshold that, once to-the-point-of-no-return it is crossed, can lead us to a much-to-be-desired deeper relationship with our God. I have come to believe that true all-encompassing prosperity is tied to such a relationship with God and thus with one another.

It seems to me that the Psalmist David had been given to understand this when he penned the following verse—

Who is the man that fears the Lord?

Him shall He teach in the way He chooses.

He himself shall dwell in prosperity,

And his descendants shall inherit the earth.

The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him;

And He shall show them His covenant

(Psalm 25:12-14).  

Michael Lawrence owns and operates Lawrence Electric Company and is a freelance writer.