Tithing exposes the condition of our hearts

God is exceedingly generous and magnanimous. He supplies all our needs and more. God the Father does not hold anything back, He even gave His only Son for the sake of our salvation. How we respond with our tithes and offerings testifies of our understanding of God’s intrinsic character and our love for and gratitude towards Him. Will we determine to serve and honour the abundant God of the universe with our earthly resources or will we bow down to mammon, the god of money? Will we sow into God’s Kingdom to establish and spread the gospel on earth and the salvation of souls, or will we pour our resources into the kingdoms of this world, which will all fade away one day?

(简体中文 > 十一奉献显示我们的心 | 繁體中文 > 十一奉獻顯示我們的心)

Philippians 4:19 NKJV   And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:32 NKJV He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Tithing counts in the Kingdom of God

The first time a tithe is mentioned in the Bible is when Abraham offered one-tenth of the rich spoils he won from a battle to rescue his nephew, Lot, from the kings of Shinar, Ellasar, Elam, and the nations. This resulted in Abraham acquiring all the other goods the four kings had collectively stolen together. 

Abraham then made an offering of one-tenth of what he had gained before Melchizedek, the priest of God Most High, in acknowledgement that God was the One who had made his endeavour so profitable and successful. This was even before tithing was written into the Old Testament Law (Leviticus 27:30). In that Law, there were a number of additional offerings over and above the tithe, such as burnt offerings, sacrifices, heave offerings, and choice offerings.

Genesis 14:18-20 NKJV  Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said:  “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”  And he gave him a tithe of all.

Deuteronomy 12:10-11 NKJV  But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord. 

Giving something from what God has blessed us with is not an Old Testament concept, we find it also in the New Testament. In fact, the apostle Paul instructed the Corinthians to set money aside on a weekly basis in preparation of an offering that would be collected later. As believers, we are called to be intentional in saving up to support the work of the Kingdom of God on earth.

1 Corinthians 16:1–2 NKJV  16 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: 2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.

Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV  “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

Additionally, the Bible shows us that money or food that we give generously to the poor is even remembered with memorials in heaven before God (Acts 10:1-4). When we honour God’s name and heart for the needy, the Lord takes notice and keeps a record in heaven! A generous and self-sacrificing person attracts heaven because such qualities reflect the heart of God Himself.

Acts 10:1-4 NKJV  There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”  And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?”  So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. 

Out of His great love and generous nature, God instructs those He blesses with financial resources to share their blessings with the less fortunate. In the Mosaic Law, for instance, landowners were instructed to always leave some of their harvests for the poor, fatherless, widows and passing travellers to gather for themselves. God blesses us so we can bless others.

Deuteronomy 24:19 NKJV  “When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Tithing does not only include money or currencies, it can also include material things. The very first offering mentioned in the Bible included agricultural and animal products (Genesis 4:3-8). This sadly ended with a tragic twist because it led to the first murder and bloodshed on this planet, because of a wrong view of our offerings to God.

Genesis 4:3-8 NKJV  And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought off the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.  So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”  Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

Our attitude counts too

Adam and Eve’s two eldest sons were Cain and Abel. Cain brought God an offering from the fruit of the ground, while Abel brought God the first fruit of a flock and the fat. 

God received both their offerings but He appreciated Abel’s offering more. Why? We can observe that:

• Cain simply brought an offering of his crop (not necessarily the first fruit)
• Abel brought the firstborn of his flock 
• Moreover, Abel made it a point to bring their fat too

Apparently, Abel was after God’s heart and paid attention to what pleases Him. He gave God the first cut from his hard work. He probably also knew that God appreciates the smell of burning fat, it is a sweet aroma to Him. Carving out the fat required meticulous work and extra time to prepare. God saw the heart of Abel, versus the heart of Cain. Even though God did not reject Cain or his offering, Cain was unhappy with God’s reaction. Cain was calculative, bitter, and jealous. Cain was so bitter that he killed his more virtuous brother.

Leviticus 4:31 NKJV  He shall remove all its fat, as fat is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a sweet aroma to the Lord. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.

We see that tithing is not just a matter of how much or little we give (the ‘what’) but the attitude with which we give it (the ‘how’). God loves a cheerful giver, not when we give grudgingly or out of necessity. It delights God most when we give out of a love for Him. He promises to bless those who are generous and who reflect His heart first and foremost.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 NKJV  But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

Proverbs 22:9 NKJV  He who has a generous eye will be blessed, For he gives of his bread to the poor.

Proverbs 3:9-10 NKJV  Honor 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.

God is not calculative nor does He need our money. We need to keep in mind that there is no such thing as money or currency in heaven. God is wise and uses the money we use on earth to test our hearts. When we reflect God’s heart with our tithes and offerings, He can begin to trust us to rule over many things in His Kingdom. He honours those who honour Him.

Matthew 25:21 NKJV  21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

Take King David, for example. David gave extremely generously to the building of God’s temple. David knew that it was God who gave him his wealth in the first place. In fact, David had been saving up all the gold and silver specifically for the temple project. David was certainly a man after God’s heart, so much so that God proclaimed that Jesus Christ would be given “the throne of His father David” (Luke 1:31-32). This is indeed an incredible honour for David that will last for all eternity.

1 Chronicles 29:3-5,9 NKJV  Moreover, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, my own special treasure of gold and silver: three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses; the gold for things of gold and the silver for things of silver, and for all kinds of work to be done by the hands of craftsmen. Who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the Lord?” Then the people rejoiced, for they had offered willingly, because with a loyal heart they had offered willingly to the Lord; and King David also rejoiced greatly.

The consequence from our un-liberated views of God and of money

How we use our money on earth can have eternal consequences. When we pour our money into ungodly forms of entertainment, witchcraft, ancestor worship, prostitution, gambling, pharmakeia, or brands that clearly glorify the devil, for instance, we end up indirectly ‘funding’ the spread of more godliness on earth, rather than the spread of the gospel. Those who love and revere God will not choose to sponsor darkness.

Satan will, on the other hand, try to stop us from using money to fund God’s kingdom on earth with many lies, most of which will be related to our fears and insecurities (financial security, fitting in, being seen as successful, don’t be swindled etc.). Jesus has even warned us that the pursuit of material security and abundance (mammon) can become like a “god” that competes for the loyalty of our hearts.

Matthew 6:24-25 NKJV  “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Matthew 6:31-34 NKJV  “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

When we take a closer look and compare the qualities of God and mammon, we can see how the pursuit of material things can become enslaving and corrupting, compared to the freedom we experience when we pursue God’s heart. How does something temporal have the power to transcend what is eternal?

Generational trauma of poverty can be one reason. It can cause us to subconsciously worship money and financial security. “Financial trauma” is usually passed down to the next generation. Examples include war, enduring long periods of poverty, sudden financial ruin, bankruptcy, starvation, being swindled or scammed. Sometimes it is simply because we live in a place that worships money, or have experienced the pain of being dismissed for being ‘poor’.  

Below are two examples of how poverty in one generation can affect the next.

Example 1: Stability as a primary family virtue

“Stability is highly valued in my family. Many of my relatives lived through periods of poverty or famine. Ensuring stability has been a multi-generational family “commandment”. As I revisited the Bible on what Jesus’s life was like, it became clear to me that Jesus didn’t preach on stability nor did He even seek it. Instead, He completely surrendered to God’s will, irrespective of His circumstances. In order to sabotage me, the enemy has been directing me to focus on stability, hence detracting me from having a right understanding of God’s will in my life. As a likely result, I feel anxious and afraid inside, leading to performance and people-pleasing behaviours. Such thinking dethroned God and elevated myself – and motivated my self-reliance.”

Example 2: The idolisation of one’s image passed down the generation

“Being seen as a virtuous person was vitally important. My father saw this to mean that our family has to accommodate others’ requests. His unwavering belief in earning people’s approval was probably borne out of his career as a salesperson – a career which lifted him and his family out of poverty. I was indoctrinated with the notion that if I did not strive to show that I was an upright person, I would experience hardship. It was a matter of survival and depended on the favour of people. It made me feel ashamed, inadequate, and unworthy if I felt I had disappointed others’ expectations – even if their requirements were unreasonable. This carried on into my work life where I have felt great insecurity, anxiety, and even fear.”

Such mindsets will affect our faith in an almighty God who holds the power of wealth and true riches in glory. Our fears and our experiences can ‘blind’ us to God’s calling on our lives. We end up with hoarding, jealousy, complaining, comparing, and (sometimes unintended) boastfulness in whatever we have etc. We resist being generous like God because we are driven by the “noise” from the world around us or “financial trauma”, rather than the Spirit of God. It’s not just those who are poor or lacking that suffer from such insecurities, the rich can also be victims! A person with such a mindset will have difficulty in listening to and obeying the Lord’s Word on money because mammon has already used the opportunity to enter our hearts.

Take Gideon for example. Gideon lived during a time when the Midianites persistently oppressed and stole the Israelites’ food, so that they did not have enough to eat. Gideon was hiding in a winepress threshing wheat for food when the angel of God appeared to him. The angel called Gideon “a mighty man of valour” (his ordained Kingdom calling), but Gideon could only reply bitterly because he felt that God had forsaken Israel. The rest of the story shows Gideon testing God before he had the faith to step up to what God had planned for him to become. The generational trauma of lack had overwhelmed Gideon that he could not joyfully receive his Kingdom calling in his heart and trust that God was with him. How many people give up their Kingdom calling because of their un-liberated views of God and of money?

Judges 6:11-16 NKJV  Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”  Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”  Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”

Thankfully, we can renew our minds with the Bible verses below. When our minds are renewed to know God for who He is ie. His character, we will not fear lack or being forsaken or not having enough. He is a righteous God who extends loving kindness to us. Our love and appreciation for the Lord will trump all our fears and we find we will have the faith to give generously with our tithes and offerings to the Lord. God will prove Himself to be faithful as the testimonies below show.

1 Timothy 6:6–10 NKJV  Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Proverbs 23:4-5 KJV  Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.

Hebrews 13:16 NKJV  But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Proverbs 28:27 NKJV  He who gives to the poor will not lack, But he who hides his eyes will have many curses.

Psalm 49:16-17 NKJV  Do not be afraid when one becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased; For when he dies he shall carry nothing away; His glory shall not descend after him.

Luke 12:15 NKJV  And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

Jeremiah 9 NKJV Thus says the Lord:  “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.

Testimony 1: God provides the funds for an offering

“My family has a habit of giving more than 10% of our income to the Lord’s work, sometimes we give 30%. One day, the Holy Spirit inspired me to give an additional amount of money to a friend’s NGO. It was a large amount that we clearly did not have in our bank account. Because God has shown us that He is always faithful and true to His Word, we decided to step out in faith and wrote a cheque on that very day. We wrote the date, the amount and signed it, and put it away somewhere safe. 

Long story short, within five months, the Lord inspired me to conceive a couple of projects for a client, who paid more promptly than usual. The amount they paid was exactly the amount the Lord had told us to give to the NGO. When I passed the cheque to my friend, she pointed out that it was just in time because the cheque would have expired in two weeks. She also explained that they had been short of funding to train new pastors and had been praying for the funds to come in somehow. The amount we gave was just right! God proved Himself to be faithful and good yet again!”

Testimony 2: The Holy Spirit inspires a housing project for the homeless

“It was during Covid that many homeless people were being turned away from 24 hour fast food chains where they used to shelter overnight. As a result, many were left to sleep rough on the streets at night. It was during that time that the Holy Spirit inspired me to consider asking a friend who was running a hostel if he would be willing to house the homeless in his hostel. Because of travel restrictions, his hostel was almost empty. In order to make it financially viable for him, I offered to pay for the accommodation even though I was not sure where the funds would come from. I just felt that it was what the Lord wanted and that I needed to move in faith. 

Thankfully, my friend was willing to house the homeless. After that, things move very quickly. Someone from church put me in touch with a Christian association for the homeless. They were very happy to hear from me because apparently, they have just posted on Facebook asking for people to sponsor accommodation for the homeless who have been turned away from the local fast food chain! Word got around and a few friends volunteered to help pay for the housing cost and we were able to open the hostel for the homeless within one week. For some, it was the first time they met Christians and were able to hear a testimony of God’s goodness to them. Praise God!”

May this sharing be a blessing to you as you seek to love the Lord with all your heart and honour Him with your financial offerings.