Question:
If I owed a debt, could my tithes and offerings be held till the debt was paid, or does God’s own belong to Him always? And should it be delivered to Him before man’s debts are paid?
Answer:
These are questions that frequently arise. First of all, does the tithe belong to the Lord? Leviticus 27:30-33; Malachi 3:8-10; Matthew 23:23, etc., positively teach that the tithe is the Lord’s. Secondly, to whom should our first and best service and gifts be rendered? Matthew 22:37-38; Proverbs 3:9-10, and many other passages of Holy Writ expressly declare that the first and best of ourselves and our possessions should be rendered to God. And this is reasonable because all we have, “life, and breath, and all things,” come from God. Acts 17:25. Again, not only by creation but by redemption, we are not our own; God has bought us with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Peter 1:18-19. We are simply stewards of what God has given us, and stewards should be faithful. Although our time belongs to God, He explicitly demands only one day in seven, namely, the seventh. Although all our means belong to God, He specifically requires but one-tenth. He asks neither the one nor the other because He needs one or both, nor arbitrarily to exact a certain amount of what is in our possession but to develop in us honesty and integrity of heart and faith in the great God and Father of all.
Therefore, if we recognize the truths stated in the Scriptures referred to above, we will render all He claims as His own to God. If He in His providence places in our hands one dollar, one-tenth of it belongs to Him. “But I owe that dollar to someone else.” No, you owe ninety cents of that dollar; one-tenth is the Lord’s. If we were working a ranch, vineyard, or farm “on shares” for one half, and the whole proceeds should amount to $10,000, I can only owe one half because only one half of that belongs to me. Therefore, of what God gives us, we can only owe nine-tenths because only nine-tenths of it belongs to us, and if we use that which does not belong to us for our own purposes, are we not robbing God? Of course, we may owe our neighbor more than our nine-tenths and God’s tenth, but we owe God’s tenth to Him alone.
The above presents somewhat of the moral aspect. There is another phase, and that is the privilege of doing just what God says, that He may fulfill to us just what He has promised in Proverbs 3:9-10 and Malachai 3:10. But God’s promises are not for those who pay tithes or keep the Sabbath because it pays financially or commercially so to do, but because of faithful love to God and simple faith in His precious promises. All the world is His; can He not bring us all blessings? Will not nine-tenths be better with God’s blessing than ten-tenths without it? Is it not worthwhile to trust God? Let us not say, “It is vain to serve God” (Malachai 3:14), but let us be among those who shall reap of His blessings and be found among His jewels.
