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Day 5, or January the 5th. All to Jesus I surrender, all to him I freely give. Our thought

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today is rooted in Genesis chapter 14 verse 20. Then Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.

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First the big picture surrounding this verse. Abraham finally settles in the promised land

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with his wife Sarah and their nephew Lot. It quickly becomes obvious that the land will

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not be big enough for both Abraham and Lot, so it is divided between these two potential

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nations. This confirms why God told Abraham to leave his relatives behind before entering

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the promised land, but being a doting uncle he thought he was doing the best by looking

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after his nephew Lot. The land was a gift from God. But when it is divided, Lot greedily

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takes the best portion and leaves the part he doesn't fancy for his uncle Abraham. Abraham

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is grateful to God for the rest of his life, and is the first person in the Bible to give

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a regular part of his income back to God. It is called a tithe or a tenth. Meanwhile,

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Lot slips away and ultimately finishes up with nothing of real value, but Abraham gets

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all that God has promised, and he thrives in the promised land.

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And our action step for today. I think one of the most misused criticisms of the church

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today is seeing it as always asking for money. When tithing or the giving of a tenth is brought

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up, many believers react by saying that they are New Testament believers, not Old Testament

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ones. It's true that the concept of tithing is an Old Testament one, but in the New Testament

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it is superseded in the early church, where Acts chapter 4 verse 32 reminds us, All the

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believers were united in heart and mind, and they felt that what they owned was not their

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own, so they shared everything they had. This news usually makes tithing a very attractive

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option. However, Abraham's tithe was a tenth of everything, not just money. I believe tithing

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is a minimum, but let's not limit it to money. What about time? What about our talents? Need

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I go on? Remember, God allows us to retain 90% of our wealth, but even then we need to

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use it wisely as a good steward.