Day 5, or January the 5th. All to Jesus I surrender,
all to Him I freely give. Our thought today is
rooted in Genesis chapter 14, verse 20. Then
Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First,
the big picture surrounding this verse. Abraham
finally settles in the promised land with his
wife Sarai and their nephew Lot. It quickly becomes
obvious that the land will not be big enough
for both Abraham and Lot, so it is divided between
these two potential nations. This confirms why
God told Abraham to leave his relatives behind
before entering the promised land, but being
a doting uncle, he thought he was doing the best
by looking after his nephew Lot. The land was
a gift from God. But when it is divided, Lot
greedily takes the best portion and leaves the
part he doesn't fancy for his uncle Abraham.
Abraham is grateful to God for the rest of his
life and is the first person in the Bible to
give a regular part of his income back to God.
It is called a tithe or a tenth. Meanwhile, Lot
slips away and ultimately finishes up with nothing
of real value. But Abraham gets all that God
has promised, and he thrives in the promised
land. And our action step for today. I think
one of the most misused criticisms of the church
today is seeing it as always asking for money.
When tithing or the giving of a tenth is brought
up, many believers react by saying that they
are New Testament believers, not Old Testament
ones. It's true that the concept of tithing is
an Old Testament one, but in the New Testament
it is superseded in the early church, where Acts
4 .32 reminds us, All the believers were united
in heart and mind, and they felt that what they
owned was not their own, so they shared everything
they had. This news usually makes tithing a very
attractive option. However, Abraham's tithe was
a tenth of everything, not just money. I believe
tithing is a minimum, but let's not limit it
to money. What about time? What about our talents?
Need I go on? Remember, God allows us to retain
90 % of our wealth, but even then we need to
use it wisely as a good steward.