"At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates:
And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest."
Deuteronomy 14:28-29
The idea of the tithe is an awesome one... one of providing for the community and thinking outside ourselves. I think sometimes we forget that as we contemplate contributing ourselves. Instead we think about sacrifice or want. Here, the Lord asks us to tithe not just for others, but so that we can be blessed. It's really a win-win all around. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it, and sometimes we think that we really need that money more than other people do. I think though, that is a false sense of scarcity that comes from the world and not at all from God.
God intends to provide for us, and he will, if we do as he asks... abundantly. The whole idea here is not just us though. He intends to provide for *everyone* and to help us learn to be united and work together, and part of that is providing for others through us. Tithing really binds us together as a community in a lot of ways, and it helps us learn to trust in and rely on the Lord.
Today, let's take that leap of faith and learn the myriad of lessons, and gain the myriad of blessings, that tithing provides.
And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest."
Deuteronomy 14:28-29
The idea of the tithe is an awesome one... one of providing for the community and thinking outside ourselves. I think sometimes we forget that as we contemplate contributing ourselves. Instead we think about sacrifice or want. Here, the Lord asks us to tithe not just for others, but so that we can be blessed. It's really a win-win all around. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it, and sometimes we think that we really need that money more than other people do. I think though, that is a false sense of scarcity that comes from the world and not at all from God.
God intends to provide for us, and he will, if we do as he asks... abundantly. The whole idea here is not just us though. He intends to provide for *everyone* and to help us learn to be united and work together, and part of that is providing for others through us. Tithing really binds us together as a community in a lot of ways, and it helps us learn to trust in and rely on the Lord.
Today, let's take that leap of faith and learn the myriad of lessons, and gain the myriad of blessings, that tithing provides.
Is the third year tithe an addition to to yearly tithes?
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. To me it just seems like an explanation about when to gather the tithes, not an additional one.
DeleteIf we are to gather our tithes into our gates, what about the church in that 3rd year
ReplyDeleteWell, I think that this was the way they distributed to the poor and the needy back then. Hopefully the church today has better means of distribution, but the idea is the same... we give part of our increase so that others in need will be provided for.
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