Stop Robbing God

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
(Malachi 3:8)

Only a small percentage of professing Christians regularly give tithes. God doesn’t need “our” money; despite what some TV evangelist might claim, He isn’t going broke. Everything is His, we are allowed to be stewards of His things while we are on this earth. What He desires is for us to give up our materialism, and our idolatry of money. If you believe that more money will solve your problems, you are putting your faith in money not in God.

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and (money).
(Matthew 6:24)

Oh, you say tithes are "Old Testament" and no longer required?

Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
(1 Corinthians 16:2)

Actually, tithes (a one tenth part) was only the beginning. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the people of God were expected to give offerings in addition to the tithes.

If you do not tithe because you cannot pay your bills, then you are putting money and "things" before God. (In violation of the First Commandment, btw.) Tithes are the "firstfruits". Before you pay your bills, set aside one tenth of your income to God. Act in faith, and God will reward you. This also requires you to be responsible with the money God has allowed you to steward.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
(Malachi 3:10)

Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
(Proverbs 3:9-10)

Where should you tithes go? To your local church. You think that your church asks too much for money? Maybe it does, but if all the christians that attend meetings there were to tithe then the church would have no need to ask. Likely it would need to start supporting more missionaries, feeding and clothing more poor, aiding more needy...

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
(2 Corinthians 9:6-8)

Don't give in order to "get rich"; that is putting money first. Give because God gave you eternal life. Give because He gave the life of His only begotten Son on the cross at Calvary that you might be saved! Give because it's all God's money anyway; it is only right that we give some back while being thankful that He has blessed us with what remains.

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As Seen on TV

As I was eating breakfast this morning, TV was on Court TV. The punch-line of the show that was on was the bloodstains that revealed the guilty party. The detective at the end of the show claimed that if they hadn’t have found the stains they wouldn’t have solved the case. The criminal had tried to clean up the blood, but was unable to get it clean enough to keep it from being detected. This is just like are our sins. No matter how hard we try clean ourselves from the guilty stains of our past, we can’t get clean enough to hide the stains from God. Even what we think are “good works” are stained and filthy in Gods perfect sight.

We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away. (Isaiah 64:6 NLT)

But fortunately, we have a professional cleaner available to us. One who can remove all of those stains, so even though we are guilty and without defense in and of ourselves, we can be found innocent.

"Come now, let us argue this out," says the LORD. "No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool. (Isaiah 1:18 NLT)

What do we need to do to get this deep cleaning of the soul?

We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. (Romans 3:22 NLT)

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The Evil that Men (and Women) Do

In a recent comment to one of my posts, a confused person brought up, among other things, Deanna Laney. Mrs. Laney killed two of her children and injured a third because "God told her to". (She was found not guilty by reason of insanity, last year.) The commenter misrepresented God's Word and claimed that Deuteronomy tells parents to stone their children.

If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
(Deuteronomy 21:18-21)

Somehow I really doubt any of the woman's children were drunkards or gluttons (or refused to listen to either of their parents). Further she did not, along with her husband, take her children to the elders in the city gate (the community leaders). Neither was the sentence carried out by the men of the town. This is just another in the exceptionally long line of cases where men (and women) attempt to justify their heinous crimes by misrepresenting God's Word.

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
(Psalms 19:7)

For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
(Hebrews 7:19)

The Law of Moses, recorded in the first five books of the Bible is there to prove that we are unable to reach the standard of sinless perfection as required by God for salvation. It points to the Cross, where Jesus Christ, after living a perfect sinless life, died shamefully, taking on the punishment we deserve. Because of His sacrifice, we can accept Jesus as Lord of our lives and his sinless perfection counts for us. (Read Paul's letter to the Romans.)

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Trusty (dusty) Road Warrior

I took my road bike for a spin yesterday. That was the first time in probably two years. The poor thing was dusty, with flat tires. It takes a little effort to re-inflate tires for a road bike, using a hand pump. Not a lot of volume, but they are high pressure. I didn't get very far yesterday, just a few laps around the block. Not that I'm in all that great a shape (Hey now! Round is a shape!), but bicycles use different muscles than say walking does.

I wonder if there is not some spiritual parallel here... there often is, in practically everything we do in this life. Perhaps reading the Bible daily could be considered exercise for the mind/spirit? Like physical exercise, it can be uncomfortable at the time, especially when you are reaching beyond your normal effort or having some sin in your heart/life revealed, but the pay off is always for the good. It's good to have an exercise buddy, likewise it is good to have someone to be accountable to in our Christian walk.

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.
(Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)

While traveling, I get to experience this truth first hand. It is much easier for me to do wrong when I'm away from other Christians. Fortunately, there are fellow Christians out on the road as well.

The bike hasn't moved very far today, ...
I'm such a lazy dog.

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Paint at Play - Lost in Reason: Walking on the Web

Forrest Kaiser, in his post Walking on the Web on his blog, Paint at Play - Lost in Reason kindly made mention of this blog, as well as a couple of other (more worthy) Christian blogs.

I'm glad he did, for one it has helped remotivate me to get back to blogging correctly (The trivial articals about me should once again give way to Christ centered ones, soon. God willing.) Also, his own blog, complete with artwork is an awesome and worthwhile read...

So go on; read it! ;-)

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More new Tech

I've created a "live" web cam page. It updates once an hour, currently. For the moment the camera is inside, but I'm planning on having it travel with me. If all goes well, I'll have it in the truck when I drive to Barrington, Rhode Island this coming Tuesday. (I'll be working the CVS Charity Classic there.) Anyway, the test page for the new "live" web cam is here.

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Technology Test

I fired Road Runner. I was paying for high speed internet access that I didn't get to use substantial parts of the time. The price has come down on high speed cell phone connections, so now I can do things like this.

It's not as fast as cable modem, but it is slightly more usable while I'm away from home. :-)

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