One of the greatest temptations faced by Christians is stealing from God.
None of us likes to hear this, even if we are giving to God with the amount and attitude that He expects.
You see, we’d much rather hear about His goodness, His grace, His majesty and how He is empowering His people.
But God is sovereign over all and that includes believers’ attitudes toward chastised the Jerusalem priests because of their decision to offer lame, blind, diseased or otherwise imperfect animal sacrifices to God instead of the flawless animals required by the Law.
God’s clear message was this — the priests kept the best for their own stomachs or for the market, and gave the unwanted animals to God.
Simply put, they put themselves first and stuck God with the leftovers.
To make matters worse, God said, the priests complained about the burden of sacrificing defective animals to God.
Here’s how God responded to those complaints.
“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord” (verse 14).
Wow. That’s strong language.
But God was facing a strong spirit of rebellion that overflowed from a deep root of selfishness.
The priests needed a serious wake-up call.
What about you?
Are you giving generously to God as called for in His Old Testament AND New Testament Word?
Are you tithing with a smile of appreciation for all His blessings of infinitely greater value than what you provide to Him?
Please don’t give God your leftover dollars.
It SO wounds His heart.
Make sure that His expected offering from you is item #1 on your weekly payments list.
To give Him anything less is hypocrisy on our part.
God gave His perfect Son as a sacrifice needed for you and me to have eternal life.
Let’s not cheat God of the tithes and offerings that show our appreciation for who He is and for what He did — and does — for us.
As always, I love you
Martin
