OFFERINGS & TITHES (part I)

By Odon Bulamba (summary only 8th Sept, 00)

When we talk about offerings it means that we give something without having it back. It means that you give and then you completely forget about it. You put aside any ideas that you will get something back. This is very different from bargaining or trading or when you buy something with money. Giving an offering is not for investing. You also should not give to someone to please them so that they can be grateful.

The tithe is about taking from what you have and sacrificing it. You give it completely and then forget and you remember that what you have given does not belong to you anymore. When you earn your salary you know that you have made the effort to work, however you know that 10% is not yours. You might ask yourself, why does 10% not belong to me? I worked for it. That 10% doesn’t belong to you because it is an offering of thanksgiving and gratefulness.

A tithe means to offer to God because I am grateful for what God has given me. Let’s take an example; Michael who is a dentist. Where did he find the experience that he has? You might think that it was at university, someone else might think that it is because he has worked for 5 or 10 yrs. But before learning his job he needed to have the capacity to think and before being a dentist Michael had to come to life. We will find that the source of everything is God himself, because it is God who gives him life, wisdom, experience etc. Now God asks for 10% of all of this and He lets us have 90%.

Another example: Sylvie has a piece of bread and she gives this bread to Nathanael and afterwards she asks Nathanael to give her a piece of bread. Some children will say no, especially those who are between ages 1 – 4. They’ll say, “no I don’t want to give you” forgetting that just 5 minutes ago they had been given some bread. This is the same thing between God and us.

When God gives to us we forget to give back to Him what He asks us. Lev 27:30, here God says, you must consecrate something to Me, He doesn’t ask for 20%, if you want to give 20% you can but He doesn’t ask you to. You must know that the 10% you give to God is His. If you think that 10% is not enough for God, you can say, I can add some more to that.

As we know the 10% is not only about money, in Lev 27:30 it’s talking about the fruit of the trees and the produce of the earth. God produced something from the earth (dirt) which is our body. The Bible says that God took some mud and put life into it. This means that the body that I have is just something from the ground, so that must be a share for God. That’s what is written in 1 Cor, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, meaning it is something that is kept for God.

SUMMARY

- Offer without expecting anything in return
- Give 10% of everything (not only money)

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