Malnoursihed Christianity
31.12.08 10:00 Filed in: Leadership
Today I read
the last few chapters of the One Year Reading plan on
youversion.com. Malachi 3 for those of you who are
familiar with it is famous (and in some minds
infamous) for being what is known as the tithing
chapter in the Bible. Tithing is a command to give
1/10th of your income to the storehouse--the local
church. It is the only command in the Bible that God
asks us to test Him on by following through that he
will open up the windows of heaven with blessing that
there will not be room enough to receive it.
Don’t stop reading now I am not going to talk about whether or not you should personally tithe--that is between us and the Lord. (In case you were wondering, I do tithe, and since I am a Pastor I have the incredible opportunity to choose to have my tithe taken out of my paycheck before it even gets to me.) The verse that stuck out to me this morning is Malachi 3:10 [NKJV], “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house...”
Many scholars believe that the food referred to in this verse is literal food so the priests can eat--after all, a workman is worth his hire. This may well be true but I just thought today could the “food” be more than that?? After all, Jesus himself said, “Man does not live on bread alone but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
What if food also meant, spiritual food?? What if people or even churches that do not practice tithing are not able to grow spiritually the way God intended them? Could they be living a malnourished version of Christianity?
If you have any comments, questions, objections, or would like to carry this conversation on please leave me a comment.
Don’t stop reading now I am not going to talk about whether or not you should personally tithe--that is between us and the Lord. (In case you were wondering, I do tithe, and since I am a Pastor I have the incredible opportunity to choose to have my tithe taken out of my paycheck before it even gets to me.) The verse that stuck out to me this morning is Malachi 3:10 [NKJV], “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house...”
Many scholars believe that the food referred to in this verse is literal food so the priests can eat--after all, a workman is worth his hire. This may well be true but I just thought today could the “food” be more than that?? After all, Jesus himself said, “Man does not live on bread alone but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
What if food also meant, spiritual food?? What if people or even churches that do not practice tithing are not able to grow spiritually the way God intended them? Could they be living a malnourished version of Christianity?
If you have any comments, questions, objections, or would like to carry this conversation on please leave me a comment.
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