It’s easy to look at everything around you and confidently say that you earned them. Maybe you bought them or you were gifted them, and you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. If you worked hard to get money to buy something, then, ya, I’d say you worked for it. So, then, why would God ask for us to give things to Him that we worked so hard for? Why does he ask for 10% of your income? In 1 Chronicles 29, David gives us some insight: Everything comes from God.
When we take a look at 1 Chronicles when David was getting plans together to build God a temple for Him to stay, we find this beautiful prayer of dedication to the Lord. In chapter 29 verse 11 David is pouring out His praises to His God, the Lord of Israel,
“Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.”
Everything is comes from the Lord
Here in the chapter, David sticks with that last phrase, “everything… is yours.” Verse 14
“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”
Everything we have in our lives comes from God, everything! That’s a lot… So let me help you put this in perspective. God created the earth, so the very ground we walk on is given by God. He created the plants and trees, so everything we eat is given by God. God created our minds to have an incredible imagination and creativity, so our money, government system, jobs, everything is a by-product of the brain He gave each and every one of us, so God gave you the money you have. He made the sun, moon, and stars, which means He created our time. He created our being and formed our personality before we were even born. A divine creator gave you every talent you have.
Everything we have was given to us, and If it was given that means it belonged to Him first. Everything in our possession, even our own lives, was God’s first. Every single thing. So it makes 10% seem like an incredibly small amount to give back, but it’s all God requires of us. And see how I didn’t just mention money as something God gave us. He gave us everything, and so we need to give everything back.
God has given us everything we have. This statement now changes 2 things of our perspective of life:
I recognize that everything I have belongs to God in the first place, the least I can do is give it freely back.
And great news, he only asks for 10%!!! He deserves it all, and He knows it, but only asks for a small portion. A God who is able to create universes and destroy worlds gives freely to us. Who has magnificent power and surely does not NEED anything we can give Him still asks for only 10%. Even though He gave it all to us, He asks for a mere 10%. Knowing the goodness of God and the joy of our salvation through Jesus, He’s proved Himself over and over that He deserves it all! He deserves so much more than 10%, He deserves it all. But He knows we can’t survive when we give all of our food and money away. He only asks for 10% as a reminder that it’s not ours in the first place, but He gives it to us anyway.
The 10% is what is requested of us, but God wants our whole lives, that’s why we sing “Take my life as an offering” because 10% is a tithe and everything else is an offering.
I now live with a new purpose.
God gave me everything I have, even the breath in my lungs. Does this mean you try to breathe really hard to “give it back?” No, it means filing your breath with the praises that He deserves. Fill every breath, every action, with the praise, honor, and glory that He deserves. Jesus tells us that if we cling to our life, we will lose it. But if we lose our life for His sake, we will find it. Since the breath in my lungs is given by God for God, I won’t cling to it as my own, but instead, freely lose my life to give it back to Him. Now we live with the sole purpose of bringing God glory by giving back every breath He gives us and filling it with His praises.
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