A Dare

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Malachi  3:10

This verse has been stuck with me for a day or two for a couple of reasons.  First, Malachi, a prophet, delivers the words from God saying, “Try it!  Put me to the test!” I think often that people, including myself, often confuse putting God to the test with daring God to do something.  To test means to measure one’s ability.  God says, “OK, do that.  Do what I have asked you to do.  Go out on faith take a measure of my ability.”  But we often dare God to do things.  To dare means to challenge one to perform an act of courage.  I think that there is a dramatic difference here, but perhaps it will come out better over he next few days as I wrestle with it more.

Second, I began to ask myself, “Is a tithe just applicable to money?”  Looking forward into 2010, I want to be a better steward than I was last year.  But what does that mean?  A tithe, 10%, of everything you have been given…To tithe my time, means to give 876 hours to God this year.  Some may say that biblically a tithe is about money, but in an age where our time IS money…what are we to give of that?  Can I give up nearly 17 hours per week…as an offering to God?  What can I do with 17 hours a week?  Maybe things that are more important than tithing…

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.           Matt. 23:23