Remember this chapter is about the offering to Lord and giving to needy. This isn’t about tithes. The Bible clearly differentiates between tithes and offering/giving. Before we go any further let’s us see what tithes and offerings are according to the Bible.
Tithes
Leviticus 27:30-34
And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s: it is holy unto the LORD.
And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.
And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy into the LORD.
He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it t all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.
These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai.
Giving
2 Corinthians 9:7
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
Sticking purely to the topic of offering/giving, it’s imperative to understand that we should be cheerful givers rather than forced givers. If God has supplied us enough then, we should also help people through our generosity so that eventually they understand that all this is because Jesus has given us sufficient means to meet our needs. Problem arises when we start evaluating how much we have in terms of our desires and not needs. Our desires are ever increasing and never ending but our needs are always basic and always being sufficed by the Lord. An exuberant giver is always appreciated and acknowledged. The giver should decide himself in heart keeping Jesus as his witness as to how much he could spare and how much he could help others with. Taking care of each other in Christ, through helping in needs is one of the instructions given in the Bible to us.
1 John 3:17-19
But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
When we are in a situation to help people, and still choose not to, citing our crisis of “desires not getting fulfilled”, how would we be able to say that God’s love resides in us; How would we be able to say that we love Christ and we are Christians? We won’t have any right to call our self followers of Jesus because we fail in adhering to his basic commandment. Loving someone through mere words or speech isn’t enough, as the Bible also says that we should love others by our actions as well. Our act of supporting them when they require us, not only uplifts them but also strengthens their faith in the Lord. They get the assurance that Lord through us is helping them and answering their prayers, which indeed is true because he only gave us enough to support our needs and help our fellow brother in need. Only then can we say truly say that we follow Jesus because now we would be adhering to his instructions in the Bible. And when we uphold his instructions given to mankind, he blesses us; not only by giving us eternal life but also by bestowing his blessings upon us here on earth.
Proverbs 11:25
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
God also looks at our heart and he knows what is cooking inside us. If we genuinely love Jesus, we would love our neighbors and also would help a needy person without having any expectations to get something in return and that’s when our Lord will bless us immensely because we are loving one another purely because our savior Jesus has instructed us to do. Following his instructions and commandments without having an iota of doubt is all that he wants from us. The happiness the needy person gets, when he is being helped out from his trouble is simply impeccable because he could have been coming to a point of breaking in life, but since we helped that person, through the Grace of God, his faith in Lord grew and our Heavenly Father got glorified through this act of ours which in true sense was inspired by him only. Also, the help whether big or small doesn’t make any difference to the Lord because your intentions are more important to him rather that the quantum.
2 Corinthians 8:12
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
Also, the Bible tell us, to share or give others excess of what we have and not what we don’t have. This is simply because the Lord has blessed you with certain things which you require and our Heavenly Father understands it, however, if we give it to others without sufficing our needs (not desires), we would tend to dishonor his blessing for our needs. Whether giving a gift or correcting a mistake, the Bible tells us to firstly look at ourselves; correct what’s wrong in us and then help others for the same.
Luke 6:42
Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out the first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.
So the point which Jesus makes here is to first correct your mistakes or in terms of giving first fulfil the needs (not desires) for which the Lord has blessed you with and then definitely help others. Don’t try to show off by helping others without correcting yourself. That is sheer hypocrisy in the eyes of God. Keep the intentions of giving Holy, let the glory belong to God and don’t try to transgress the moral line. Apart from it another important point which Jesus reflected upon in giving was that of keeping secrecy.
Matthew 6:2-4
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, a the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Keeping secrecy in giving is essentially a nature attributed to people who actually follow Jesus, rest who try and blow the trumpet either at or after giving are impostors to say the least. Keeping the act closet is also imperative for keeping the dignity of the receiver intact. Jesus also maintains the fact that our Heavenly Father is watching our actions and knows our scheme of things;which if found to be foul play would be counted against us. However, the rewards which our Heavenly Father would give for our generosity (Holy generosity) will be duly rewarded not in secret but openly. The world would see the blessings of the Heavenly Father upon us.
Sometimes, we miss the bigger picture of attaining the eternal life in heaven with Jesus, but all our mindset is on the short term goal of acquiring admiration from humans to inflate our false sense of self-esteem. God also uses us as a vessel to win souls and that is the reason he gives us abundantly so that we could help the poor and needy in their requirements and eventually their prayers get answered.
2 Corinthians 9:11
Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
The needy will surely be thanking God for sending us as his help and ultimately our Heavenly Father’s name will be glorified which is absolutely fitting because the bottom line is that we get our needs satiated through him only and he alone has the power to fulfill our needs and desires. A generous heart is cherished everywhere, even among non-believers. Through our non corrupted generosity, we are able to showcase the true and pure Love of Jesus that resides in us and through our act of giving we can motivate them to seek the Lord and save their lives.
So next time you decide to give make sure that your heart is happy for doing an act of charity and remember that through you, our Lord is getting glorified.
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