Daily
Devotional

In a church that I pastored a while back, a new convert always wrote out her tithe checks to “The Lord Jesus Christ.” I was reminded of this woman when the secretary of our church brought a check to me and asked if it could be deposited because it was written out to God. I told her that the bank would most likely accept it, as the bank has always accepted checks written to “The Lord Jesus Christ.”

Most of us write out our tithe checks to our church, but I like the attitude of these believers who wrote their checks directly to God. They certainly understood what our focus verse says: the tithe is the Lord’s. Tithing is not something we do out of the goodness of our hearts, nor is it a charitable deed. We do not give tithes any more than we give our bank mortgage payments. Tithes are not ours to give because they belong to God already.

God does not reward people for giving something that was never theirs to begin with, but He does bless our obedience by giving guidance, provisions for our daily needs, protection, and many other good things. In fact, we can claim all of the blessings He has promised us in His Word if we are living in accordance with His commandments.  

God has many ways of showing His approval to our obedience, yet there remains only one way to be truly happy, and that is by obeying God’s Word. The tithe belongs to the Lord; let us bring unto Him what is due Him.