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"I know what it is to be so deeply in debt that tithing seems an utter impossibility" said Dr. R.T. Kendall. "Shortly after my wife and I married we found ourselves plunged deep into debt. You wouldn't believe how much money we owed ....I blush when I think about it. Tithing (i.e. giving a tenth away) was not on the agenda." He picked up a large old Bible one day and he read these words:
"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." Malachi 3:8-9
He snapped shut the Bible and sat to watch T.V. on a set he still owed for. He was miserable. Things got worse.He and his wife were working; two incomes were coming in, but the debts grew greater still. "One day I made a turn", he said, "We took 10% off our gross income - right off the top, making our tithe the number one priority. I paid bills with the remaining 90%. Not at once, but in less than two years we were completely out of debt, and those days became the happiest we have known." He did not want to do it. He did not want to be convinced he should do it, but he did it, and found to his shock that what he couldn't manage on his own with 100%, God and they managed wonderfully on 90% of it.
He goes on to say that when our greed is broken, our spirits can soar - in fact there can be no continuous revival without hilarious giving: but surely systematic giving isn't all that important? Listen to Malachi again:
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 you will not have room enough for it. Malachi 3:10
A Prayer hint:
Today, pray first with your money, and see what happens to you. Then say to God, Lord you have given me so much, grant to me a grateful heart and a generous spirit.
Now read Malachi Chapter 3.
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