Malachi 3:7-8

7 Yet from the days of your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the LORD of hosts.

“ But you said,

‘ In what way shall we return?’

8 “ Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,

‘ In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.


The Lord tells the priests and the Jews that they have strayed from the tasks and responsibilities laid upon by God and have not bothered to keep them. Yet, He is gracious and tells them that if they turn back to Him, He will return to them.

But the people seek to challenge God on His judgment against them. They demand of God the ways in which they have "robbed" Him.

His reply is swift and cutting --- through tithes and offerings.

Verse 8 is a most frequently cited supporting verse for tithing. Here, the link is clear. When we do not tithe, we are robbing God. When we do not give offerings, we are robbing God.

Matthew Henry drew an even broader perspective of how we are robbing God. Some would think that this verse applies only to our money, but we should extend it to include everything in our relationship with God:

- Are we robbing God of our service to Him?
- Are we robbing God of our financial offerings and tithes to Him?
- Are we robbing God of our time spent communing with Him?
- Are we robbing God of our gifts and abilities that should be channelled for His glory and for His use?
- Are we robbing God of our evangelistic abilities to draw people closer to Him?
- Are we robbing God of our compassion for others that they will see Him in us?
- Are we robbing God of our ministry for His kingdom?
- Are we robbing God of our praise and worship for Him?
- Are we robbing God of our passion for His word?
- Are we robbing God of our passion for Him alone?


Sometimes, when push comes to shove, I find it all too easy to skip that quiet time and play my Nintendo Brain Age game, forget about prayer and communion with God and read a book or watch a DVD, use my personal bible study time to go out with friends, avoid talking about Jesus with friends and colleagues because that always introduces some tension into the conversations and instead talk about mundane stuff such as work and TV shows, criticise and show contempt for certain people because of their bad behaviour instead of trying to understand why they act like that and figure out ways to help them and be humbled by the truth that God also died for them, and also blow hot and cold for God when consistency and discipline are the keys to a fulfilling closeness with Him.

I haven't got all the answers yet and I should be getting off my butt more for Christ, but I thank God that He is merciful and that He is willing to return to us when we repent and return to Him. He is always waiting for us with His embrace, always the One standing by waiting for us to open our hearts to Him. But we shouldn't take His love, mercy and patience for granted.

Amen.


References:
1. Matthew Henry's Commentary of the Bible

2. John Calvin's Commentary of the Bible