THRIVE: THINKING OF THE MASTER'S PLAN

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.

⁹ You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. ¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. ¹¹ I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. ¹² Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.   Mal. 3:8-12

 

While this is a funny or comical picture, how we treat God in relation to our finances and blessings isn't funny at all.  It's actually shameful.   It's like your kid refusing to share with you their parent.  It's like an employee unwilling to share with their boss.  It's really the creation saying to the creator....NO!

 

So we have today this section of scripture that has been used over and over again to drive home the point and challenge that we are supposed to trust GOD with a small portion of our finances.   The odd thing  is....the majority of "said" BELIEVERS/CHRIST FOLLOWERS and I emphasize SAID don't consistently give to GOD or His Kingdom's causes on Earth, yet we wonder why our communities are the way they are.   It's been said that people don't plan to fail, but they fail to plan.  This is us......no teenager says I want a job, so I can go into debt....but many if not all of us end up there.   WHY?  Because we don't include GOD in our finances, nor do we go into working with the mindset of blessing GOD with our finances.   We really think....ITS OUR MONEY...that it belongs to us....totally forgetting that WE PRAYED FOR THIS JOB, that GOD BLESSED US WITH.  So it wasn't really us that got the job....but rather GOD's favor that allowed us to be hired for the job.  So we owe Him thanks for that, and what better way to show our thankfulness by investing in His desires to be able to serve the community through our giving/bringing a gift.   This is what it means to have meat in His storehouse......the local church should be the food pantry, but they can't....because people come to churches to consume...instead of to bring a blessing.   This is why there was no needs unmet in the Acts 2 church.   They realized in their hearts that God deserved so much more than just a 10% gift. 

 

 

The MASTER'S PLAN was for us to be blessed, not cursed.  His plan was for us to be the lenders, not the borrowers.   His plan was that He'd bless us, and out of gratitude we'd want to give to Him, others in need, and any cause that furthered His will.  But what has happened is that we have become more selfish/stingy and it's killing us......a large percentage of Americans/Christians are in financial debt, and some are even in crisis not because of the economy, or the gov't....but rather because of our selfishness.   Unless we learn to give to GOD first....our finances will continue to be under a curse, so I close with....whose plan are you on?  I'm blessed (and you know this)......and I have some debt that I'm resolving through Godly principles.   I'd hate to be cursed and have debt, not working a Godly plan.  LGLP